NOTE: The Surface footage as seen in the excerpts below, are 1. a daytime and 2. a night-time live radio-mesh relayed video. Surface was created and installed at a time when live video underwater relay technology was developing and when only standard resolution cameras were available for permanent 24-hour underwater applications. Thus the resolution reflects the state of both camera and streaming technologies of the time. Stalls in the relay affecting the video feed can be clearly seen in the form of lost or staggered frames.]
Day time Dock (2011)
group of Sticklebacks feeding under Aquabus (2011)
Commissioned by the City of Vancouver, Surface made the hidden world of Sen̓áḵw visually tangible to passersby.
Surface was part of Mapping and Marking, where artists submitted proposals for installing public artworks in places that reflected concepts of their own choosing.
Surface (2010-13), was Bowie's three-year, 24/7 live documentary, of the undersea life of the sacred water of Sen̓áḵw, colonially known as False Creek.
A tidal body of water, Sen̓áḵw once had an abundance of aquatic life and streams supporting Salmon, it had been an important gathering place for the Xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səlil̓ilw̓ ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-waututh) Nations, until it became industrialized after the colonial formation of the city of Vancouver and the nations forcebly removed from their time immemorial, unceded territories.
Over the ensuing decades, it became one of the most polluted waterways in Canada.
The work's source was a camera Bowie mounted underneath one of the Aquabus (who kindly partnered with the project)that transports people to several stops connecting the downtown core to other points including Science world and Granville Island.
As the Aquabus made its way from stop to stop (or alternatively when parked at its dock), live underwater images were transmitted live, through a macmini computer to a small onboard screen on the designated Aquabus, broadcast via radio-relay, onto a large LED screen one on the facade of Ocean Concrete facing the water and downtown, to an additional screen at False Creek Community Centre in Vancouver and broadcast live over the internet (now defunct website surfacer.ca).
Running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the work never 'slept' during its tenure and thus could be viewed from any time zone, anytime in the world.
When Fiona pitched the project to the art jury panel at the City of Vancouver, she outlined the past and current conditions of the environs, stating
"what ever we see down there is a reflection of industrial settlement and the ensuing disregard for what lives(d) below. There may be a lot of 'dead air' (lack of life), encouraging commuters passing by to consider what lies under the surface of our actions and inactions".
Surface cameras documented many unidentified minute organisms (Stramenopiles, etc.), crustaceans, species of fish (some identified: eels, Sticklebacks, Eulachon, herring) as well as copious detritus (likely from anchored boats).
Bowie created several related works, the gallery-based Eels, which was exhibited in Vancouver (curator Cate Rimmer) and in Bellingham (curator Lee Plested), another while she lived in Costa Rica (20014'-21') Particles and Galaxies at the Or (curated by Weiyi Chang). Fiona is also interested in other iterations of Surface in altered or urban environs.
Night camera, boat docked.
This live 24/7 video documentary brought the underwater world of False Creek to the surface for all to see (for all water traffic, seawall and bridge traffic. In doing so, Bowie took the viewer beneath the surface to observe what is normally out-of-sight, out-of-mind.
Surface was installed at a time when live broadcasts were reserved only for national or international sports or large awards events. In fact, the live sports broadcaster Livecast, kindly donated their then massive bandwidth (typically used for world cup and other sporting events) necessary to broadcast a 24/7 video feed from multiple points (Radio Relay) across the body of water.
A Montreal company called Moment Factory (whom Bowie met after they designed the software and controlled the interactive systems
for Nine Inch Nails live shows as well as many other events worldwide), produced the software system for Surface.
Also see production partners Aquabus, Livecast, ECU, Ocean Concrete, Hymach Industries, Metro Mobile Radio, Trevor Gibbons and their links below.
Broadcast system connected to Surface Radio Relay system on False Creek adn relaying live images to nearby LED screens and to the website.
Aquatic birds and sealife are slowly starting to make a comeback, though at the time of this project, still in comparably low numbers. This is reflected in the live stream that often functions as an abstract mix of colours and impressions, sometimes tiny organisms, or crustaceans or fish swim by.
Once teaming with aquatic life, this body of water is showing recovery with an influx of species, but at a time when our oceans are vulnerable to changes in temperature and oxygen levels.
"The future of the underwater environment and what is manifest on the screen is wholly dependent on us:
the historic and our present collective activities".
Surface is commissioned by the City of Vancouver, under the project section Marking and Mapping, through its Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program for 2010, where artists were invited to propose projects based on sites of their own choosing.
Many thanks for the generous support of Surface Project Partners:
Concept, art work, project manager: Fiona Bowie
Software and system integration:
Moment Factory. Special thanks Dominic Audet, Hugo Desmeules, Vincent Pasquier, Pierre-Luc Brunet
Surface is installed on: Aquabus. Special thanks to Jody Collins and Jeff Pratt who helped make this project possible.
Video Streaming: Livecast Special thanks to Trevor Whike and Tony Randall who helped make this project possible.
Internet service provider: Emily Carr University Special thanks to Chris Brougham and Ron Burnett
LED Screen location : Ocean Concrete Special thanks to Dave Faber
Camera Hardware Installation(special thanks): Hymach Industries
Radio mesh: Metro Mobile Radio Steve Shelley
Electrics: Trevor Gibbons
City of Vancouver Public Art Manager: Karen Henry (thank you)
2010 Fiona Bowie
all rights reserved/copyright fiona bowie 2009-2024
All images, sound and text are the exclusive copyright of the artist and may not be used or duplicated without
the expressed permission of the artist.
This work was created in K'emk'emeláy̓ (colonially known as Vancouver BC.),
situated on the stolen, unceded, ancestral and current territories
of the əəθkʷə̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵw̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and sə̓lil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. With respect and acknowledgement
of their aeons-long nationhood, cultures, knowledge, languages and all relations, we support ongoing actions and initiatives here and in the unceded Wet'suwet'en territories.
