Cooper’s Mews

Wood, steel, steam generators, sound, electro-mechanical. 1999

Set in a residential development on the site of former heavy Industrial lands and the Yale town railway yards, this work encompasses the sites historical values and heritage. A section of spring loaded boardwalk triggers jets of steam and sound into 5 overhead barrels. Each barrel contains a different level of water, thus each producing a different resonant frequency to resound in the neighbourhoods ambient soundscape. The boardwalk/pathway diminishes into a single steel rail line buried in the grass at the far north end, as does the overhead track diminishing into a single line. The work is based on the sites industrial history. It was the location of the Sweeney Cooperage Barrel Factory for over 75 years. Collaboration with the architects and landscape architects was essential in this project, along with historical research into the City of Vancouver’s photographic archives which informed much of the vernacular in the piece.