What are your memories of Minoru Arenas?
That’s the question Vancouver-based artist Faith Moosang is posing to Richmondites past and present for a crowd-sourced public art project.
Moosang will be installing a series of art wraps around the main rink’s large concrete pillars to pay homage to the people and events that have helped shape the building into an iconic piece of Richmond history. To do so, she’ll be asking the public to submit photos, videos, memorabilia and stories to her.
Moosang, a multimedia artist, curator, writer and researcher, said the work will depend highly on her research skills but also what residents provide her. It is from these submissions that she will form a concept for the project.
She hopes to connect the many generations who have passed through the building in a way that relates to everyone.
“It’s regular people going through their regular lives and documenting it. I think there’s a beauty in that, our regular lives,” said Moosang.
“I hope people will be opening up their albums for inclusion. I hope people get excited. This is their chance to put their thumbprint on this space,” she said.
And she hopes to engage with people beyond the obvious hockey fixation that the arenas have typically fostered.
“It should resonate with people who do sports and also who are less serious about it. I think there’s something underneath it all. I’m not a sports person per se, but I watch the Olympics and I’m blown away by fleetness of foot. I love the expression of human physicality.”
She notes there have been numerous non-hockey related events at the facility over the decades. One of the biggest highlights was in 2010 when it was host to Holland Heineken House for the Winter Games. She may also involve nearby activities in Minoru Park.
Minoru Arenas is presently the host venue for recreational hockey, figure skating and lacrosse. It is also the Richmond Sockeyes’ home arena.
The art wraps — commissioned by the Richmond Public Art Program in partnership with the Richmond Arenas Community Association — may be a collage or an abstract theme, perhaps based on chronological order or events-based.
Moosang said she already loves the pillars.
“They’re a little bit regimental. That’s the way architecture goes.
“I love old buildings. The things that have happened and resonated in that space will be depicted in the columns,” she said.
Seafair Minor Hockey Association president Nigel Shackles, who is also a RACA board member, said Minoru Arenas was lacking a showcase for its history.
“It’s one of my favourite rinks in the province. I’d take it over any shiny rink any day of the week. The configuration is great, it’s nice to take in a game there. The bench seating is informal and there are lots of nooks and crannies. It’s got a historic feeling to it,” said Shackles.
The art project is an opportunity to showcase Richmond’s history to an ever-growing immigrant-based population, he noted.
“I feel it’s important for a city like Richmond, with new people, that we show them the past as we keep building for the future,” said Shackles.
Moosang, 50, has one Richmond art project under her belt already, at the Olympic Oval. Her work centres on inquiry into spectacle culture, media, mediated imagery and the mechanically-reproduced image. She has Masters of Fine Arts from the School for Contemporary Art at Simon Fraser University.
Moosang will be hosting a series of public engagement events at Minoru Arenas and the Richmond Ice Centre on the following dates, for the public to share their artefacts and memories:
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Saturday, March 17, 12:00-8:00 p.m. at Minoru Arenas, 7551 Minoru Gate
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Tuesday, March 27, 4:00-10:00 p.m. at Richmond Ice Centre, 14140 Triangle Rd
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Sunday, April 8, 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. at Minoru Arenas, 7551 Minoru Gate
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Sunday, April 15, 1:00-8:00 p.m. at Richmond Ice Centre, 14140 Triangle Rd
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Monday, April 21, 11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. at Minoru Arenas, 7551 Minoru Gate
For more information and to learn how you can participate, visit CommunityPillars.Wordpress.com.
