Public Art on display in Vancouver

Internationally-acclaimed artist Liam Gillick will unveil a new public artwork that literally wraps two sides of the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s façade. Located on the corner of Burrard and Cordova Streets, the million-dollar commission by Westbank and Peterson Investment Group is celebrated as one of the latest additions to the City of Vancouver’s Public Art collection.

The artwork consists of a running line of repeated text:

"lyingontopofabuildingthecloudslookednonearerthanwhenIwaslyingonthestreet..."

"Lying on top of a building the clouds looked no nearer than when I was lying on the street…"

This passage, in the artist’s signature choice of Helvetica bold, occupies floor five through 22 and provides a demarcation between the hotel and the additional 25 floors of luxury residential suites above. The 2’ high letters stand proud on the building’s exterior along narrow concrete fins that sharply turn to accentuate the building’s most public corner. When viewed from the street, the letters reflect the surrounding buildings and shifting colours of the changing Vancouver sky.