The Olympic battle over freedom of expression is heating up in Vancouver. The city has ordered a Downtown Eastside gallery to remove a mural that is critical of the upcoming Olympic games. The criminalized mural depicts a set of black Olympics rings, four of which have sad faces and one outcast sporting a smile.
The Crying Room gallery has been displaying murals on its exterior walls for a decade, and they say never before have they been asked to remove one. “It was pretty clear to me that it was because of the context of the work,” Colleen Heslin, who runs the gallery, told the Globe and Mail.
Unsurprisingly, the city of Vancouver denies any political motive behind the crackdown, and attributes the forced removal to a simple graffiti bylaw.
Photo: Jay Black
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I have been searching the ‘net for info. on what Olympic access there will be in Vancouver for tourists. I was thinking of traveling up to Vancouver during the Olympics. I don’t have any tickets
to the events, but I thought there may be other events going on in the city. I read about the Olympic village and it seems like it is not accessible to the general public. Isn’t there always some type of Olympic Park where things are going on? I read about an Olympic park in Whistler, but it is not open to the public. I don’t want to travel hundreds of miles and have no chance of actually meeting anyone accept by chance. Can someone tell me if there are any public events in Vancouver or the other Olympic venues or a chance to meet the athletes or other celebs? Perhaps there are other blogs or websites you could recommend?
http://www.vancouver2010.com/cultural-festivals-a...
This is a disgusting abuse of afundamental freedom under the Charter of rights – are there no court actions against whatever draconian idiocy has been enacted as by-law or legislation? Canadians should be outraged coast to coast to coast …
A lawsuit was actually started in opposition to the new bylaw that would allow the city to take down "unauthorized signage". Under pressure, Vancouver city council dumped the bylaw. However, given these developments, I'm interested to see what happens with that lawsuit, and if any others may spring up.
More info:
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Olympics2010/2009...
You know … if lots and lots of people recreated the banner, like everywhere, in windows, as a pin, on t-shirts, stickers, graffiti, like "mirror sites" in the analogue world, the symbol police would have hecka time keeping up with it all … maybe the banner could be used to launch a national campaign about freedom of expression and West Coast Olympic weirdness … just a thought.
"Mirror sites in the analogue world."
I love it — great idea, Anonymous!
Are the Olympics really worth the limit of freedom of speech and expression? I don't think so. They're bringing everything that's anti-Canadian to Canada.