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What's Under The Bridge?

For almost a decade of my life, I have been commuting to UBC. I would take the millennium line Skytrain towards VCC-Clark, then take the 84 from VCC-Clark to UBC, and then the reverse on the way back home. The same views, the same amount of time, the same types of commuters… It had become so routine that I scarcely paid attention to my surroundings; it was almost like muscle memory at this point. However, on my way home one day - something changed in a way that made me jump. Have you ever had that feeling when you catch something out of the corner of your eye, like a bug or a face looking at you? You immediately go on alert mode while hoping that you are wrong about what you are worried it might be. That is exactly the kind of reaction I had to this public sculpture. Take a look at this video to get a glimpse of my encounter.




Junko (Canada)

Phobia, 2023

Discarded Windshield Wipers & Other Upcycled Car Parts

Under the Victoria Bridge (Commercial-Broadway)


Wait, Was That Real?

My first thought was, "Wait, was that real? Did I really just see what I thought I just saw?” By the time I actually turned my head to get a closer look, the train had gone too far for me to study it. I would confirm it the next time I pass by this area on the Skytrain on the way to school. The next day, I anticipated it ahead of time so I could get a better look at it. And lo and behold, it was a huge arachnid! I caught a better glimpse of its scale, shape and materials this time. The legs looked like it was made of windshield wipers and its body made out of something like car parts like a transformer. My first impression was that I did not like it. Although I do not have a debilitating phobia, spiders give me the heebie jeebies. However, I could not help but desire to look at it every time I passed by. Eventually, it almost felt like seeing an old friend. I even wondered if it felt lonely there hanging out by itself under the bridge.

I reckon that this sort of visceral reaction may have been the intention of the artist. The initial shock of seeing this eight-legged creepy crawler makes this encounter memorable. It immediately drew me in and made me want to know more about it. A plethora of questions ran through my head. When was it placed there? Has it always been there? Who made it? Why did they put it here?


Junko: The Artist Behind The Eight-Legged Creature

The artist calls himself Junko and prefers to remain anonymous (Nagy). His specialty is upcycling what is typically considered ‘junk’ to create his art – hence his pseudonym (Nagy). He uses his work as a type of commentary on sustainability and politics, but mainly looks at art as “...[his] passion. It’s a reason to live, and it makes [him] feel alive” (Kergin). In a way, his arachnoid sculpture which he calls “Phobia” plays with this idea of what it means to be alive. In a nutshell, I believe that Junko touches on a primal component of the human experience – fear. It is an instinctual feeling that evolutionarily helped us survive over the many years the human race has existed. When humans perceive potential threats, our sympathetic nervous system puts us into fight or flight mode as a protective mechanism. That was my body’s instinct when noticing Junko’s spider sculpture, which I believe is the response he is trying to evoke. Even when I consciously realised it meant no harm, it took a bit of time for my body to fully realise it and relax.

Junko’s sculptures are aesthetically enticing and beautiful to look at. However, the essence of how he operates as an artist is inherently controversial and provocative. His sculptures reside within the sort of legal grey area between vandalism and public art, where it is neither “officially sanctioned… nor institutionally condoned” (Nagy) street art. His pieces tend to anger the city, but delight the people. There was a lot of public discussion regarding whether it should stay or not (Martins). Junko argues that his pieces are simply “carefully arranged piles of garbage” (Haines), and that “there’s already tons of garbage down there, [this one] just happens to look like a spider” (Martins). As such, it is thought-provoking to note that the city only shows strong concern over its removal when the aesthetic composition of litter offends the power of governmental bureaucracy in some way.

One may argue that if Junko really wanted his sculptures to stay, he should have followed the rules. However, the way that Junko sets up these interruptions* without the permission of the government creates a different type of narrative than if they were officially publicly sanctioned. It leads to questions such as - What should “public art” be anyway? Why does one need to go through an official legal process in order to display their artwork? Would the city have wanted Junko to put his sculpture there even if he tried to follow the rules? The message of the artwork becomes very different when it is commissioned by the government, as opposed to unfiltered individual expression. The controversy over Phobia, 2023 plays with the exact ideas that he is trying to provoke in his audience with his artwork.


*Interruptions are types of environmental art that “conjoin environment [and] human activity using non-indigenous, man-made materials”. It is often “large-scale” and made of “manufactured substances and structures, or machines and technology to frame, set in motion or harness natural elements”. It “[questions] the notion of natural elements”, critiques terrestrial exploitation, and “interrupts landscape by bringing it into a gallery space” (Umbanhowar 6).


Where Junko places his arachnoid sculpture also contributes to the principles of his artwork, which is that art should be “visual, accessible, inclusive and thought provoking” (Nagy). He intentionally places it somewhere that likely only public-transit takers on the Skytrain would be able to see it. The idea that this work of art is for the public-transit commuter opposes the conventional idea that art is for the upper-class. On the contrary, Junko’s spider can really only be seen up close when you are on the train. As public transit is supposedly accessible to everyone, this piece of art also aligns with those values. As interruptions go, Junko transforms this otherwise unimpressive and throwaway space under the bridge into a gallery space. Moreover, it is not meant to be encountered stationarily but as you pass by it while the train is moving under the bridge. It is meant to catch you off-guard and to be experienced temporally – one can only see it for about five seconds before it is out of your sight. I tried to walk around the Victoria Bridge area to take a closer photo of it, but was only able to see it from a distance and only if I was really looking for it. Hence, I believe that the artist intentionally designed it to be experienced as a commuter on the Skytrain.




Conclusion

These ideas show how just one piece of public art can generate deep discourse and generative learning. There are so many more ideas to explore that extend beyond what was discussed in this paper; I have only scratched the surface. In my practice as a teacher, public artwork such as Junko’s sculpture is a great tool to provoke the thoughts of young minds and lead them into bigger and more abstract themes by starting with something tangible. It lends itself naturally to place-based learning by examining how the meaning of such an art piece can change if it was in a different neighbourhood. Art does not need to be exclusively for art classes, but should be integrated in an interdisciplinary manner that includes any audience members. At its core, art should make you think and be for everyone.


Follow Junko on Instagram at @junko.playtime to see more of his other work!




Works Cited

Haines, Brayden Jagger. “‘Glorified Littering’: Junk Street Art Installations Popping

up around Montreal.” Global News, 25 Jan. 2021, https://globalnews.ca/news/7597128/junko-junk-art-installations-montreal/. Accessed 18 July 2023.


Kergin, Brendan. “‘You Can Call Me Junko’: Meet the Man behind Vancouver’s Wild

Yellow Beast Art Installation.” Vancouver Is Awesome, 2 Aug. 2022, https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/junko-artist-yellow-beast-art-installation-interview-vancouver-bc-5651354. Accessed 18 July 2023.


Martins, Nikitha. “Vancouver City Councillor Proposes Giant Spider Sculpture Be

Relocated.” URBANIZED, 27 Mar. 2023, https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-city-councillor-spider-sculpture-relocate. Accessed 18 July 2023.


Nagy, Melanie. “‘Using Waste Material Makes Sense’: Mysterious Artist Junko Turns


Umbanhowar, Elizabeth. "Public Art: Linking Form, Function and Meaning." PUBLIC


 
 
 

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