Single-Channel video documenting vignettes of everyday life of 3 sites that are emblematic of the manner in which the city of Vancouver defines/situates itself in its own history – that is, in regards to its past, its present, and its future. These sites act as ‘documents’ for the city to represent its own past and future in a present that it elides in doing so.
Documented sites are: the location of the 9 O’clock Gun in Stanley Park – a historical landmark that serves as a document of the city’s past and that ‘marks’ the present by being fired daily at 9pm. The Olympic village – which is symbolic of the city’s attempt at being remembered in the future but has proven to be an urban planning controversy. Lastly, the BC Place Stadium – which symbolizes projects that the city of Vancouver was engaged in (when the video was made) at the expense of socio-political issues that beg attention and funding.
The way in which the video is shot and edited intends to create a document whose past and future are collapsed onto each other. The viewing of the original document (the site) is therefore destabilized through repetition, incongruities in continuity, and time differences between the windows. This video was created for the exhibition "Génération Dissémination", organized by curator Maggie Flynn and presented in 2012 with the artist run centre Le Labo in Toronto.