Login / RegisterGrouper sleeps in Stanley Park bear enclosure
The polar-bear enclosure in Stanley Park hasn’t housed any animals since the Vancouver Zoo closed in 1996, but the vacant spot will be full of activity tonight (August 16) during a free show by Portland-based electro-acoustic musician Grouper (aka Liz Harris).
Within the confines of the multiplatformed pen, Harris will present her hybrid performance piece/sound installation SLEEP, which was originally mounted at the Berkeley Art Museum in 2010. The free show is being organized by Fillip magazine, the Vancouver park board, and the Vancouver Aquarium, and planners hope the concert will kickstart the enclosure’s reputation as an alternative event spot in the city.
“Even Vancouverites don’t know the space,” Fillip publisher Jeff Khonsary told the Straight. “Hopefully, it’ll be activated more. There’s a need for performative spaces that aren’t bars in the city.”
The show also acts as a record release for a-limited edition, one-sided 12-inch called SLEEP (Fragment), which, as the name implies, will feature a portion of Harris’s soundscape. While the show is free, space will be limited. That is, of course, unless you want to see the action from the other side of the open-air venue.
