New Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition tells of the gallery's future (video, photos)

by Amanda Siebert on March 26th, 2015 at 3:07 PM

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Pritzker Prize-winning architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron will showcase its work in Material Future at the Vancouver Art Gallery from March 27 to October 4 in an exhibition which looks into the past, present, and future of the gallery itself.

More than just an eye-opening preview into the gallery's new buliding, which will be designed by the Swiss firm, the exhibition offers Vancouverites the opportunity to observe the timeline of the gallery's development since it first opened 85 years ago.

A room dedicated to some of the firm's past work will also give viewers the chance to understand the thought processes that have gone into designing similar buildings in the past.

The renowned firm, led by senior partners Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Christine Binswanger (who was on hand for the exhibition's preview), Ascan Mergenthaler, and Stefan March, has designed a number of acclaimed buildings throughout the world, including the National Stadium in Beijing. Herzog & de Meuron will be collaborating with Vancouver firm Perkins+Will on the upcoming project.

Herzog & de Meuron were announced as the designers of the new building, which will effectively double the gallery's current size, in 2014.

The conceptual design of the new Vancouver Art Gallery building won't be made public until later this spring, but the final room of the exhibition offers gallery visitors some insight as to what the firm might be envisioning.

Christine Binswanger of Herzog & de Meuron addresses the media at the opening of the exhibition Material Future on March 26, 2015.

Amanda Siebert

Christine Binswanger of Herzog & de Meuron explains part of the exhibition, Material Future, at a media preview at the Vancouver Art Gallery on March 26, 2015.

Amanda Siebert

Christine Binswanger of Herzog & de Meuron explains part of the exhibition, Material Future, at a media preview at the Vancouver Art Gallery on March 26, 2015.

Amanda Siebert

Part of a Herzog & de Meuron piece in the second room of its exhibition, Material Future, organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery, on March 26, 2015.

Amanda Siebert

Christine Binswanger of Herzog & de Meuron explains part of the exhibition, Material Future, at the Vancouver Art Gallery on March 26, 2015.

Amanda Siebert

For more information, visit future.vanartgallery.bc.ca.

Comments

1 Comments

Ho Hum

Mar 27, 2015 at 3:03pm

So this "exhibition" is really just a PR push by the company that stands to make millions off building the art gallery. That's ok as long as the millionaires who actually go to the art gallery (both of them) pay for the art gallery. I did a poll of random people at an intersection downtown and only 2 out of 30 had ever sat foot in the art gallery. No public money for the elitists navel gazing collection.