One of Vancouver’s most iconic public pieces of art could be moving to another location.
Monument to East Vancouver, which many Vancouverites more commonly know as the East Van Cross, is the subject of a motion to be introduced by Coun. Mike Klassen at council’s Dec. 11 meeting.
Klassen wants city staff to develop a plan to relocate the Ken Lum-designed monument from the intersection of Clark Drive and East 6th Avenue to “a more accessible and visible location” for residents and visitors.
The reason?
His motion pointed out that the current spot is now partly obscured by development — a mass timber building is nearing completion adjacent to the monument — and limited by private property constraints, which reduce public visibility and accessibility.
“We need to make sure that we give agency to the artist, and there are other stakeholders that we want to talk to,” Klassen said Wednesday in an interview. “But I've long felt that the piece itself was never really given its due.”
The City of Vancouver commissioned the monument — which lights up in the dark — in 2009 as part of the Olympic and Paralympic Art Program. It was installed in January 2010, and Klassen was actually there to watch it be put into place.
“I was pretty excited about it,” he said, noting he posted a video online at the time that got a few thousand views.
“It’s iconic, and I don't think there's anybody who could tell you there's another piece of public art that has had the kind of popularity and resonance and also identity with our city than the East Van Cross.”
Klassen said staff from Mayor Ken Sim’s office has met with Lum about possible relocation of the 57-foot monument. Lum indicated in an email Wednesday that more meetings are anticipated with city staff to discuss possible relocation.
“I don't have much to say,” Lum said. “The head of Public Art contacted me, and I replied, asking him to offer me a few dates to schedule a meeting to discuss the possible relocation of Monument for East Vancouver.”
Lum said he has yet to hear back.
“So I have little information other than that a city councillor had the idea to relocate the work,” he said. “I have no idea how far along this idea is to move the work. I would be hesitant to say anything without first speaking to someone from the city in some degree of depth.”
Bob Rennie
Klassen’s motion requests that any plan for relocation “prioritizes private revenue sources, including developer contributions through the Public Art Program and other philanthropic partnerships.”
He also wants the relocation project to be included in the city’s sponsorship and naming rights program “to help attract potential sponsors and donors to the initiative, while preserving the monument’s artistic integrity and established public significance.”
Klassen was clear in the interview that he was not suggesting sponsorship would translate to the Rogers Monument for East Vancouver or the Scotiabank East Van Cross. But he did mention realtor Bob Rennie, who has one of the biggest contemporary art collections in the country.
“I only name Bob Rennie because he's often cited as somebody who's from East Vancouver,” Klassen said.
“Bob is one of our most successful people in the real estate and development industry. There are other people like him who have been very successful in business and enterprise. I would love for them to come to the table and say, ‘I want to be a part of this in some way because I want to kind of give back and do something that acknowledges my roots.’”
Klassen’s idea to relocate the monument has its roots in a rezoning application dating back to 2018 that proposed an office building with a distinct honeycomb-like exterior be built on property just west of the cross.
That 10-storey building is nearing completion, and will serve as the headquarters for ICBC, which is currently located in North Vancouver.
'Important cultural icon and landmark'
At the time of the application, concern was raised about the future of Lum’s monument.
Tony Astles, president of real estate for Bentall Kennedy and a spokesman for the development, told the Vancouver Courier at the time that the applicant team considered the monument “to be an important cultural icon and landmark.”
“The design team have carefully considered and respected existing public views to the cross and have shaped the building massing to maintain an optimal experience of this important piece of public art,” he said, noting existing views from the nearby SkyTrain station and Clark Drive had been maintained.
A city staff report from 2019 connected to the application said that “public art planners are currently assessing relocation opportunities for the art piece.” The report also noted the city and Lum were aware that the adjacent private land would be developed at the time the monument was installed on city property.
Emblem for East Vancouver
On his website, Lum said Monument to East Vancouver was developed from a graffiti symbol that has circulated for several decades in East Vancouver. Over the years, the symbol has been adopted as an emblem for East Vancouver as a whole, but its appearance has generally been tentative rather than overt, he said.
“The lack of overtness is, I feel, symptomatic of the underlying meanings that the symbol expresses,” Lum said. “These meanings have to do with problems of injustice, inequality, subjugation and the trauma of poverty and acculturation, partially as it relates to immigrant life.”
Meanwhile, Klassen wouldn’t speculate on another location for the art piece, but was clear it will remain on the east side of Vancouver, despite any lobbying efforts that might arise for it to be moved downtown or another spot west of its current location.
“You can be sure it’s not going very far west — it needs to be East Van’s,” he said, recalling his high school days when the East Van cross symbol was visible as graffiti, scrawled on skateboards and incorporated in clothing.
“That's why I love what Ken Lum has done with it. He's taken something that once struck fear in some kids on the East Side back in the day, and turned it into something iconic and almost playful in a way.”
With files from Naoibh O’Connor
