From Collective Imagination to Collective Installation

The team at Phoenix recently had the pleasure of assisting with the install of a piece of public artwork in Vancouver. With the crane set-up on the sidewalk along Cambie Street, we were tasked to lift two bronze pieces, weighing 250 pounds each, up 25 feet up onto the façade. With permits and traffic control in place, our job was simple, hoist the pieces to their destination.

The artwork, Under(currency), was created by Vancouver artist Cindy Mochizuki for the new PCI Development and Ambi on Cambie residential complex. Cast by Burton Bronze Foundry Ltd, the installation features 10 mythical guardians; nine in bronze mounted on the building and one stone story marker at ground level.

What makes this project especially meaningful is that the deities were imagined through a community-engagement program with grade three students from Sir William Osler Elementary School, blending children’s imagination with the layered history of the Marpole neighbourhood.

At ground level, a story stone invites visitors to interact with the piece and access an animated world of these seasonal guardians through a daily reading portal. If you are as curious about it as we were, feel free to explore the project and its mythology here. https://undercurrencyworld.com/

Thank you to everyone involved in the process and to our partner, the local fabrication company, whom we always enjoy working alongside. Professionals like them make these art installations a real joy, and we are proud whenever our cranes help lift art into the city’s skyline.