Esther Shalev-Gerz is an internationally renowned artist. Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, she was raised in Jerusalem, Israel and has been residing in Paris since 1984, spending her summers on Cortes Island, BC. Her work investigates the construction of knowledge, history and cultural identities. She has exhibited internationally in, amongst other places, San Francisco, Paris, Berlin, Vancouver, Finland, Detroit, Geneva, Guangzhou and New York and created permanent projects in public spaces in Hamburg, Galilee, Stockholm, Geneva, Wanas, Glasgow and now Vancouver.
Please join artist Esther Shalev-Gerz for the inauguration of The Shadow, a new public art project that embeds a ghostly silhouette of a first-growth fir tree across the expanse of University Commons Plaza outside of the AMS Nest.
The Shadow was commissioned with support from the Burrard Arts Foundation, Rick Erickson and Donna Partridge, Brigitte and Henning Freybe, Phil Lind, the Morris and Helen Belkin Foundation, the Rennie Foundation and UBC’s Matching Fund for Outdoor Art through Infrastructure Impact Charges.
For more information about the artwork, read about the Outdoor Art Collection online, and download a copy of our booklet about The Shadow (PDF).
Image (above): Esther Shalev-Gerz, The Shadow, 2018. Photo: Hassan El-Sherbiny
Esther Shalev-Gerz is an internationally renowned artist. Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, she was raised in Jerusalem, Israel and has been residing in Paris since 1984, spending her summers on Cortes Island, BC. Her work investigates the construction of knowledge, history and cultural identities. She has exhibited internationally in, amongst other places, San Francisco, Paris, Berlin, Vancouver, Finland, Detroit, Geneva, Guangzhou and New York and created permanent projects in public spaces in Hamburg, Galilee, Stockholm, Geneva, Wanas, Glasgow and now Vancouver.
Gather at The Shadow on University Commons Plaza in front of The Nest, 6133 University Boulevard
On-site musical response to The Shadow, O’hisa for solo flute, composed by UBC School of Music DMA student Ramsey Sadaka and performed by Emily Richardson
Reception and remarks in the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, Walter C. Koerner Family Terrace Lounge 3rd Floor, 6163 University Boulevard
Burrard Arts Foundation
Rick Erickson and Donna Partridge
Phil Lind
Morris and Helen Belkin Foundation
Rennie Foundation
UBC’s Matching Fund for Outdoor Art through Infrastructure Impact Charges
Esther Shalev-Gerz will present her proposal for The Shadow, a new public art project to be installed on the UBC campus as part of the Outdoor Art Collection. A 100-metre long depiction of the shadow of an old-growth Douglas fir tree will be embedded within the paving pattern of the University Plaza. Shalev-Gerz will discuss this work in relation to the many other projects she has created in the public spaces of cities world-wide.
[more]