New Westminster is a city to the west of Vancouver. In fact, it's where Vancouver began. Straddling Front Street on 'stilts', or pilotis in architectural parlance, is a parkade. The structure was built in the late 50s to encourage shoppers to drive to New West. When I visited New West in October 2008, it was in a state of neglect. I found out that it had been used as a set for TV shows and movies. It is easily accessible from the
Skytrain.
The structure is visible in the Google Street View screengrabs below, as are the train tracks and ground-level parking which separate it from the riverfront. The road, rail and Skytrain bridges that traverse river a little further down are all clearly visible from the parkade's upper floors.
On a Saturday afternoon, a crowd assembled and I perched myself in the boot (or trunk) of a hatchback to created an improvised soundtrack for the view from the parkade on a Saturday afternoon. The sound was amplified through a PA system which was powered with a generator.
the view from now/downtown parkade was created for the exhibition
The sound I'm looking for (part 1) at the
Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, October 2008. My participation in the exhibition was supported by
Culture Ireland. The show was curated by Cate Rimmer.
This work is discussed in Jeff Derksen's essay
The Flaneur could not take the monorail.