Downtown Vancouver showcases bold new Pride installations

Just in time for the 2024 Vancouver Pride celebrations, the core of the Central Business District of downtown Vancouver has been brightened with several new, colourful installations to commemorate the season.

These eye-catching pieces add a lively touch to the cityscape and reflect the spirit of Pride by celebrating diversity and inclusion, inviting everyone to enjoy the vibrant display as the festivities get underway.

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On Thursday evening, Downtown Van (the local business improvement association for downtown Vancouver) completed the installation of its temporary “Art Overhead” Pride poem public art at 800 Robson Plaza (the street-level plaza above Robson Square, just to the south of the Vancouver Art Gallery between Howe and Hornby streets).

Above the plaza, a catenary system of cables suspends giant colourful text, with the top of the nine-line poem reading “LOVE HOLD MY HAND” and the bottom reading “WE ARE HERE FILLED WITH PRIDE”.

The lines of poetry are oriented towards the sky, resembling a page turned upward, which might make them difficult to read from the ground.

However, the installation creatively comes alive as the coloured, clear plastic letters filter sunlight, casting vibrant readable reflections of the poetry onto the plaza pavement.

“Art Overhead” is the second major temporary public art installation for the 2021-designed 800 Robson Plaza. It follows this past winter’s installation of a temporary catenary system featuring 3,000 programmable LED lights in the same overhead space.

Just a city block away, at the southeast corner of the intersection of West Georgia Street and Granville Street, Cadillac Fairview has installed two large irregularly-shaped picnic tables painted in Pride flag colours, with both tables forming a giant heart.

The temporary Pride tables are located at CF Pacific Centre’s plaza next to the street-level entrance into SkyTrain Vancouver City Centre Station.

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