Gallery exhibit about Vancouver Stanley Cup riot opens up a can of alphabet-soup whup-ass

A current exhibit at the Architectural Institute of British Columbia Gallery (100-440 Cambie Street) examines “the complex intersections between society and the built environment”, according to a recent AIBC release.

In other words, it takes a look at Vancouver’s Stanley Cup riot, Part Duh.

Along with a backdrop of some of the post-riot plywood panels upon which Vancouverites scribbled heartfelt messages of unity, love, pride, and relatively benign hate, the show features commentary from “leading British Columbia architects and designers…[who offer] a distinct perspective on what took place”.

The contributors’ names are then listed, and what caught our eye was the parade of letters after some of the names that testified to the individuals' various professional achievements and accreditations.

You think academics look a little pretentious when they back-end their names with such letter fests as BA, LLB, B.Sc., and PhD?

Take a look at local architects’ appellations sometime, trailing such constructs as IA, B.Arch, MAIBC, and OOA.

The real showstopper in the AIBC release, though, was the trailer after the name of a prominent Vancouver architect and green designer:

Peter Busby C.M. AIA FRAIC MAIBC MAAA MOAA BCID LEED® AP DSc (Hon.)

I count just shy of 40 letters. Presumably, the “(Hon.)” at the end stands for “(Honestly!)”.

The joking term for the riotous kaleidoscope of colourful medals often seen on the dress-uniformed chests of high-ranking military types is “fruit salad”.

Surely this deserves the sobriquet “alphabet soup”, at least.

Maybe “syllabary spew”?

The exhibit runs until August 31.