Canada Wild Arts Society is a BC-based federally registered charity.
Our mandate is to enhance the public’s understanding and appreciation of the arts and their relevance. CWAS achieves its mandate by supporting public art exhibitions that are free and accessible to the public,
The society fosters the creation of high-quality projects that have artistic impact, appeal to a broad audience, and are relevant to the times we live in. Addressing issues through an artistic lens captures public attention and helps to inspire reflection, while providing qualified artists and media creators an avenue for their work.
CWAS encourages artistic exploration using new forms of technology – with art and story driving the use, rather than the reverse.
The society was incorporated in January 2017 and received its federal charitable status in 2018.
In the last six years, two groundbreaking public art events have been produced under the auspices of the society; made possible with the financial support of multiple levels of government, crown agencies, foundations and corporate sponsorship.
cinematic art
public impact
on-location virtual reality
inter-active elements
UNINTERRUPTED 2017
UNINTERRUPTED was created as an outdoor, site-specific work of cinematic art; presented during the summer of 2017 as one of the highlights of the City of Vancouver’s program of 150+ activities. Five evenings a week, the underside of Vancouver’s Cambie Bridge was transformed into a BC river in a free half-hour event that projected the migration of Pacific salmon heading home right across the almost one-kilometre bridge span.
Hundreds of people gathered each evening to witness the spectacle, which ran a full three months. Selected in 2017 as one of the top 20 must-see outdoor public art exhibits in the world by the international publication Wallpaper,* the work also won national and international awards, and many media accolades.
A complementary website built interactive elements into the project, giving the public opportunities to participate.
UNINTERRUPTED-VR 2021
The arrival of the pandemic in 2020 shifted our focus – as it did so many arts organizations – and much of the rest of the world.
The shift has given rise to Uninterrupted-VR On Location. In the summer of 2021, CWAS partnered with municipalities and other local organizations to stage a transformed version of the original site-specific work. This was the test of a hybrid concept – combining virtual reality experience with a live event.
With support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the 2017 production had been reimagined in virtual reality The salmon and the bridge were now mobile – captured in VR headsets as a whole new kind of immersive experience.
The creation of a VR version made it possible to devise a series of summer public art events in three cities within Metro Vancouver: Burnaby, North Vancouver and Vancouver. A wireless synchronized network was developed to link 20 headsets together, and 20 swivel chairs were temporarily situated in various sheltered outdoor locations. Now twenty people at a time could enjoy being immersed together – while staying 2M apart.
Still a free event, CWAS built an online ticketing system into the project website, making it possible to control audience numbers, and to contact people with important Covid-19 related information. An onsite team did everything from operating the show software, to sanitizing headsets withUV light-boxes, to engaging with the audience and providing them with context around the salmon migration.
In preparation for the summer event, local stream keeper groups were also contacted and invited to participate, with members from their organizations volunteering at the event to share their local knowledge with the public.
Uninterrupted-VR On Location ran throughout July and August with tickets fully booked for every show – and like the original, it proved to be a hit with the public and media.
The complementary website for both projects is www.uninterrupted.ca
An essential note:
Pacific salmon are a unique symbol. Their significance bridges cultures and they are a keystone species in the Pacific Northwest - the very lifeblood of this ecosystem since before the beginning of recorded time, and vital to the environment as we enjoy it today.
CWAS acknowledges with gratitude that Indigenous Peoples throughout BC are the First Stewards of Salmon, and appreciates the many ways that Indigenous knowledge has generously contributed to these two projects. CWAS operates on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam Squamish, and Tsleil-waututh Peoples.
