Save the Bruce Head art installation at Portage and Main: keep the concourse open!
Contact the author of the petition
BRUCE HEAD WALL
2025-01-04 15:03:51To all who have been asking me of late what's happening with the Bruce Head wall underneath Portage and Main...I have sent this note off to the acting executive director (the real one retired 4 months ago and hasn't been replaced) of the Winnipeg Arts Council, where city council threw the problem of the Wall to deal with, as if it were a flaming bag of dog poop...
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Some months ago, Jason Shields, an assistant professor with the faculty of architecture department of interior design at the University of Manitoba, reached out to you regarding a possible resolution for the problem of what to do with the Bruce Head Wall in the Portage and Main Circus, since the city’s intent is to close the concourse, effectively burying the Wall for posterity.
City council transferred resolution of this problem to the Arts Council in March of 2024.
The city's arts community has been quietly dismayed by the prospect of losing the Wall to public view, as have countless people i have encountered who, on learning of the demise of the concourse, expressed their sorrow at losing the Wall. Many have told me they work in the area and pass by the Wall frequently, always pausing to look at it. Others are simply aghast at the decision which will erase a significant piece of Canadian contemporary art.
Since neither Jason nor I have heard from you, we have jointly decided to go ahead with his proposal. If you don't recall his note to you, the substance of it is that he is working with a grant to use the current generation of LIDAR 3D technology to build a three dimensional, complete, visually precise and accurate record of the Wall, to be made and secured as a "living" piece of art history via virtual reality, thoroughly documenting the massive, unique, culturally significant piece of art created by my spouse, Bruce Head.
As executor and sole heir of the Bruce Head estate, under Canada's copyright law I retain sole copyright to the work of art, and will be forwarding in the next few days to Jason a grant of reproduction rights to the Faculty of Architecture and its department of interior design. I will forward it to you as well, for City records. This will allow not only the recording of the Wall, but will give the university full reproduction rights to the work, and the ability to pass on reproduction rights to others, at its discretion.
The Wall will live... virtually.
I will also inform Tom Thiessen, executive director of BOMA, of the plan, and will provide him with our timeframe once Jason has organized the projected recording days and times to enable Mr. Thiessen to pass the information on to the four corner property owners and managers. Jason will endeavor to do the recording at a time when there is very little foot traffic in the area, and the project will digitally scrub out any human beings who may pass through during recording.
While this plan does not require either approval of or permission from the city, I share it with you now to keep you informed, as the Arts Council presumably has been working to develop some solution to the problem of what to do with the Wall.
This decision to record the Wall in virtual reality may simplify your problem.
Judy Waytiuk