My essay “The Dilemmas of Developer Funded Public Art: Art Washing and the Vancouver Mural Festival” is out now in the summer issue of Spacing Magazine. The piece tackles the phenomenon of art washing; the use of public art to upscale and gentrify neighborhoods. It’s only in print for now, but here’s a snippet from the essay:
“Given the recent trends in Vancouver’s property market, it does not appear the debate over art washing is going anywhere soon. While the term itself might be slippery, what it points to is very real – the co- optation of artists into a system of up-scaling and displacement that many, in principle, disagree with. For those who wish to stay in Vancouver and pursue careers in the arts, the options are stark: embrace developer money and risk contributing to the very trends that are making Vancouver unliveable for artists, or reject this funding and risk being priced out.”
Zachary Hyde 