Main Street’s new whimsical bus-bench teeter-totter might be Vancouver’s most amusing piece of public art

by Tammy Kwan on April 5th, 2018 at 5:03 PM

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Who says waiting for the bus has to be dull?

The City of Vancouver’s Public Art Program and Translink has revealed its newest piece of public art on the southeast corner of Main Street and 51^st Avenue East, and we have a feeling many people will want to interact with it.

SeeSawSeat is a hybrid between a bus bench and teeter-totter located near Sunset Community Centre, created by Vancouver-based Canadian visual artist Germaine Koh.

“It refers to a place to sit and wait for the bus, but it also creates this situation for members for the public as an invitation to interact, a conversation piece, and a moment of potential play,” Koh told the Straight in an interview at SeeSawSeat’s launch event. “If you’re going to sit on the bench by yourself, it will look kind of sad and lonely. But if you were to interact with one of your fellow citizens, it becomes so much more.”

The city showed its support by attending the artwork's launch event, including park board chair Stuart Mackinnon; park board commissoners Erin Shum, Michael Wiebe, Catherine Evans, and Sarah Kirby Yung; and city councillor Heather Deal.

Tammy Kwan

The artwork is intended to serve as a focal point for commuters to interact and engage with other people; it was commissioned as one of three public art projects developed through the Main Street Urban Transportation Showcase (UTS), which encourages the reduction of greenhouse gas emission and energy efficient transportation practices by improving pedestrian and transit services on Main Street.

Made with aluminum and ipe hardwood, the eight-foot-long bench complies with the Children’s Playspaces and Equipment Guidelines and has passed safety inspections. However, the see-saw is not recommended for children under the age of five.

“I hope that it creates an occasion for people to talk and interact, and maybe take another look at the world around them and think about whether things need to be so fixed,” said Koh. “Or whether we can let them be a little bit off kilter.”

The visual artist was recently named artist-in-residence with the city’s engineering services. She was formerly an assistant curator of contemporary art at the National Gallery of Canada and is also an independent curator, cofounder of the independent record label Weewerk, and sessional faculty at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.