A new Vision for Vancouver's Campus for Learning, Innovation, & Commercialization

The stamp of approval has been given for a new Vision for Great Northern Way Campus. The document, which the GNWC Board of Directors approved in February, broadly outlines the future of the campus. In defining the aspirations and identity of GNWC, the Vision emphasizes the campus as a hub for the commercialization of research, digital media, the transformation of arts and culture, and for setting high standards for sustainable urban development. The Vision will also help guide the process to create a Master Plan document for the campus, both at our Vision Workshop planned for May 5th and a Design Charrette to be held June 6-7th. Further information on these and other Campus Plan events will be included in the May 2008 newsletter.

In a unique convergence of art, education, and sustainable design, the non-profit foundation eatART (a tenant at GNWC) is dedicated to promoting energy awareness through art. By providing funding grants and other resources to innovative art projects and performances - with many produced and showcased in their "Hangar" studio on campus - eatART supports "practical recycling education, low impact lifestyles, and low-energy-high creativity lifestyles," as their website eatart.org states.

Of the many interesting projects supported by eatART, the Mondo Spider - a 1,500 lbs (680 kg) walking mechanical spider - has received the most attention, both at its debut during the 2006 Burning Man Festival, and after being featured last January on the Discovery Channel. Part vehicle, part kinetic sculpture, the ridable spider was designed by a team of Vancouver artists and engineers and is constructed out of recycled materials.

Other innovative installations created through eatART's support include the low-energy Dragon Bus and "Daisy" - a towering tricycle powered entirely by solar energy. A vehicle suited for the desert sun, Daisy was also showcased at Burning Man in 2006. And currently in development at eatART is the Heliomatrix, a video display that projects pixels of light onto a target using the sun's light as its source.

For more information about eatART, including upcoming events, visit: www.eatart.org. As well, the Mondo Spider project site at www.mondospider.com provides detailed information about this massive walking machine, and features a collection of video links.

FURTHER INFORMATION
eatART website (Email: contact@eatart.org)
Mondo Spider project

As part of the upcoming Vancouver edition of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, GNWC has been booked as the 2008 venue for HIVE 2 - a sequel to the acclaimed 2006 HIVE. An experiment in collaborative theatre, HIVE 2 will present new works that engage audiences in an interactive social environment. In partnership with Progress Lab (a consortium of eleven of BC's best-known independent theatre companies), these short works will include outstanding visual art, musical compositions, performance art, and ten site-specific performance installations.

The Magnetic North Theatre Festival has treated audiences to some of the best in English theatre from across Canada. The festival promotes collaboration, diversity and innovation in Canadian theatre, and emphasizes the cultural, social and economic importance of arts and culture in Canada. Organized by the Canadian Theatre Festival Society since 2002, this annual and internationally-recognized traveling festival is held in Ottawa in odd years and in different Canadian cities in even years.

For more information visit Magnetic North Theatre Festival.

Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC), in Vancouver, BC , is a unique, collaborative university environment that combines the strengths of four leading academic institutions: University of British Columbia; Simon Fraser University; Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

An urban campus, GNWC has the mandate to intersect arts, technology and the environment in a manner that bridges academia with industry, artists with technology, and innovation with development. It is an integrative environment that builds community and celebrates innovation.