by Jim Sutherland

1. Movement toward mininalism is … minimal

Last spring Westworld magazine published an article I wrote on the minimalist movement in golf design — the trend toward rougher-hewn courses more reminiscent of Scottish links than the suburban country club style popular in North America. Prominent examples include Oregon’s Bandon Dunes, Tacoma’s Chambers Bay and Richard Zokol’s new Sagebrush, near Merritt. However, it appears golfers will have to wait awhile for other B.C. examples, which have been sideswiped by the current slowdown as well as more specific issues. It will be two or three years at least before anyone gets to play Union Bay Golf Links, south of Comox, designed by Gil Hanse (Golf magazine’s current designer of the year); and the design of Blackstone, near Fernie, appears to have been shifted to Greg Norman’s firm from that of David McLay Kidd (Bandon Dunes). There is a flipside to all this, however. Zokol’s Sagebrush was originally intended to be exclusive. But last summer, and again this year, he opened it up to “invitees” (which means anyone who asks). The course is just up the hill from the Quilchena Hotel, B.C.’s oldest, which offers basic but very characterful accommodation at a reasonable price. Playing Sagebrush is a treat, and the deals ain’t bad either, all things considered.

2. Clip those coupons, name that price

Over the winter, through judicious coupon clipping and by sticking to twilight golf, I averaged about $10 per round. Obviously no-one can pull that off during the summer, but operators are getting more and more aggressive with pricing and discounting, especially during off-peak hours and when the weather is poor. One I spoke to for the BC Business article told me “If you want to play golf, we will try to find a time and a price to suit,” which practically invites haggling.

3. Competition from south of the border

One reason operators here have to be flexible is the situation in Bellingham, where the economy is poor, the courses are emptier and the cost to play not much more than half of the norm on our side, given the strong dollar. If border waits don’t intervene, the parking lots at courses like Shuksan, Semiahmoo and Avalon will be crowded with B.C. plates this summer.

4. The environmental imperative

Sustainability hasn’t exactly been a buzzword in the golf industry, and indeed there are more than a few golfers who like the idea that their footprint is bigger than yours. But change is in the air. All the operators I spoke to for the BC Business article wanted to talk about the little things they were doing to make their courses more environmentally benign, though none of them mentioned the much bigger things that are just around the corner. Especially in the U.S., there’s a new mantra, currently being promoted by USGA president Jim Hyler: “Brown is the new green.” Courses are being urged to cut back dramatically on the use of water and chemical inputs, a movement that has the triple-threat advantage of saving money, promoting sustainability and making the game more fun to play, thanks to those fast, firm fairways. Golf Digest magazine has even just changed its course ranking criteria to reward exactly those kinds of playing conditions, in effect penalizing courses that are too lush and overwatered. Golfers: do us all a favour and complain about the conditions the next time you arrive somewhere to find the fairways all manicured and weedless.

Read my lips: No new courses

That’s right. As far as I could determine, not a single brand new course is certain to open in B.C. this year. There are several in the works, mostly in the Interior, and a couple might be playable later in the year, but developers are going slow — very slow — as money is tight and prospects are poor. That said, so many courses have opened in recent years that no-one touring B.C. will feel deprived of fresh experiences. My own list of favourites includes Sagebrush (see above), Kelowna’s Tower Ranch, Salmon Arm’s Canoe Creek and Rossland’s Redstone.

Lead photo courtesy Jim Sutherland.

From tea parties as “social sculpture” to beer gardens as theatre – new twists on the classic definition of “art”

by Jim Sutherland

One of the pleasant surprises stemming from Vancouver’s Olympics has been the aesthetic sophistication. Things didn’t look promising back in Torino in 2006, given the contrast between the Italians’ amazing closing ceremonies and our kitschy yet overwrought log-cabin presence, but that was pretty much the last misstep. The Olympics 2010 architecture is solid, the logo, slogan and overall corporate identity work well and, hey, the mascots are delightful. True, the opening ceremony had its Spinal Tap moments, but the artistic direction and design were sound. And there’s also a lot to like about another crucial Olympic element, one that is often overlooked: the cultural component.

For example, consider the World Tea Party that’s running through March 21 at Centre A, a gallery of contemporary Asian art directly across the street from Pigeon Park in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. For these six weeks in March, the art will come down from the walls and the gallery will turn into a teahouse “animated” by Vancouver artist Brian Mulvihill, who created his first such event back in 1993. Mulvihill has since served tea at dozens of locations around the world, including to as many as 17,000 people – that was in 2000 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles with the Dalai Lama. So it’s a locally conceived idea that’s become a global institution: what could be more appropriate for Vancouver’s Olympics?

Right, but, as the old question goes, is it art?

Well, as Centre A curator Hank Bull explains, Mulvihill’s tea parties are an example of an increasingly common and important art variant known as “social sculpture” or “relational practice.” Obviously, art is not just painting and sculpture, which is how the term was largely defined until well into the 20th century. First, disciplines such as photography and film began to trickle in, and since the 1970s the trickle has become a flood. Today, a better definition of art might be: art is whatever artists decide to make or do.

Of course, artists don’t get to retain their arbiter jobs if their work doesn’t stand up, and the opinions of viewers as well as peers and critics ultimately decide whether it does — something to keep in mind should you find yourself at one of the art events in this week’s Top 5: Best Examples of “But Is It Art?” Olympic Art.

1. World Tea Party

According to its organizers, the World Tea Party is based on the idea “that humanity shares in the drinking of tea a spirit of generosity and understanding that both celebrates and transcends our cultural diversity.” In other words, this tea party is a “social sculpture” with an interactive aspect that makes it a suitable vehicle for a debate about the relationship between the Olympics and the Downtown Eastside, where the gallery is located. That’s the art argument. The tea argument is that there will be dozens of varieties of the mighty leaf  (some of them “special” teas of the sort enjoyed in Chinese restaurants before the advent of relaxed licensing laws), served in dozens of different vessels, in keeping with dozens of different customs from around the world. Video: How to Make the Perfect Tea  >>Victoria’s Silk Road tea shop

2. Kamp

In this presentation by the Dutch troupe Hotel Modern, puppeteers manipulate thousands of tiny concentration camp inmates and their keepers as others in the troupe roam around filming it all with miniature cameras. The action is then beamed onto a giant screen as part of the PuSh International Performance Festival. But is it theatre? It would be if there were dialogue, a plot and characters, but there are none of those – so maybe it’s closer to Is-It-Art?

3. Vectoral Elevation

Mexican-born physical-chemistry grad and electronic artist Rafael Loxano-Hemmer criss-crosses the globe creating large-scale interactive installations in public spaces. In Vancouver he’s installed 20 robotic searchlights along the shores of English Bay, where Internet participants from around the world are granted an opportunity to design their own kinetic light sculpture by manipulating the beams; performances are then captured on cameras as a lasting memento. So is it art or is it just really cool? Most in the art world would side with the former.

4. The Western Front Front

The Western Front Gallery happens to be situated in an early-20th-century building. And for the Cultural Olympiad, artist Reece Terris has installed a grander false front on this already existing false front — something of a commentary on the role real estate and real estate fluffing has played throughout Vancouver’s history. It’s not much of a stretch to call this art, particularly as the artist’s most recent show involved installing a six-storey apartment in the rotunda of the Vancouver Art Gallery. But if the Western Front building suddenly sports a “For Sale” sign, we’ll know it was really something else: home staging.

5. The Candahar

Inside a Granville Island theatre sits a meticulously detailed re-creation of an Irish pub; viewers can walk in and, oh, order a beer. A skeptic might object that there’s a pub just like that in pretty much every suburb, but those ones weren’t created from scratch by a bona fide artist named Theo Sims and don’t involve the participation of big-deal Vancouver artists Stan Douglas and Rodney Graham and writers Michael Turner and Timothy Taylor. So is it art, or is it just a pub? It’s definitely a fine place to argue the question.

Photo courtesy Jim Sutherland

The go-to guide — when you’ve barely got a weekend

  by Jim Sutherland

From May to October 2010, China’s biggest, busiest and flashiest city is hosting what promises to be the biggest, busiest and flashiest World’s Fair ever. The only problem may be determining which neighbourhood crowded with pedestrian throngs and architectural marvels is the fair site and which is just Shanghai.

Pudong, for example, an area of town conceived in the 1990s, rivals anything the fair’s designers have come up with. And that’s saying something, with the United Kingdom’s pavilion a fuzzball of pixels that shimmer in the wind and Canada’s turned over carte blanche to Cirque du Soleil. Given that building construction elsewhere in the world is largely curtailed these days, all that creativity is a bonanza for those keen on architecture, design or technology – or who merely like to be whispered to by trees, as will happen outside the Israeli pavilion. On summer days, a half-million people are expected at the five-square-kilometre riverside site, to mingle with robots and ogle such treasures as Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid, relocated for the duration. And just outside the fair gates, Shanghai will bustle as only Shanghai can.

“Ambitious” doesn’t begin to describe this city of 20 million-plus, where vice is tolerated as if it were Bangkok and capitalism pursued as if it were New York. No other place melds First and Third Worlds in quite the same way, particularly given the subtle but nevertheless omnipresent overlay of communist government. (That poster-portrait of a smiling authority figure could be Chairman Mao, still emblematic of the PRC, or, equally likely, Colonel Sanders, emblematic of KFC, a surprise Chinese sensation.) Case in point: Nanjing Road is thought to be the largest shopping destination in Asia, if not worldwide. The kilometre-plus pedestrian mall links the historic Bund district (with the planet’s largest stock of Art Deco buildings) to People’s Square. Of course, nowadays, that vast civic complex might more accurately be called People-Watching Square – one more indication of Shanghai’s emphatic arrival as a global capital.

Shanghai: Insider’s Guide

The Go Spots Shanghai can be frantic, and its summers hot and muggy, so make a point of getting out of town. •  Arrange a day tour to ancient canal-side water villages, including Suzhou and Zhouzhuang. •  Overnight at Hangzhou for a boat ride on beautiful West Lake, once an Imperial retreat. •  Bus, train or fly to Huangshan in the Yellow Mountains. Reach your peak-top hotel by half-day climb, cable car or — for the truly lazy, decadent or romantic — sedan chair.

Trendy Vittles Restaurants of every type abound, but how about, oh, Chinese? Tourists and ex-pats tend to frequent spots such as Xintiandi, a pedestrian complex re-creating the Shanghai of the 1920s and lined with top-notch eateries (including Ye Shanghai and Crystal Jade). But everyday restaurants provide similar fare for far less, typically for under $5 per person. At the most basic you’ll be led to a counter and asked to point out which plucked chicken, wriggling fish or other unidentifiable ingredient you’d like sautéed.

Best Crash Zones Shanghai’s traffic is horrendous, so being central is key.

•  The Seagull on the Bund is a slightly tarnished Art Deco jewel with amazing views of Pudong, a four-star rating and specials dipping well below $100/night.

SHANGHAI The Park Hyatt Shanghai occupies floors – 79 to 93 – of one of the world’s 10 tallest buildings. Courtesy Hyatt Hotels and Resorts

•  The Park Hyatt Shanghai occupies floors 79 to 93 of one of the world’s 10 tallest buildings. Rates: commensurate but lower than they’d be in other countries.

>>Former WL editor and now MyWestworld Vancouver city columnist Jim Sutherland blogs on Vancouver Chinatown’s Centre A, one of the world’s leading exhibitors of contemporary Asian art — and a world-class tea steeper during the Olympics with calligraphy/tea master Brian Mulvihill.

>>Plus: The Perfect Tea at MyWestworld.com/tea

>>For a heads up on Victoria’s fusian tea emporium/tasting bar/spa): An Educated Sip: Victoria’s Top Tea House

Alright folks – anything to add?

by Jim Sutherland

A protocol guide just issued by the City of Vancouver has people from all over mocking my town. Well, let’s just see how brightly our 2010 Winter Olympics shine compared to those of other cities, where residents didn’t know to match their trousers and socks.

In any case, the one thing the city’s 141-page guide fails to do is offer guidance to visitors. Surely they’ll be as anxious to fit in as we are to appear litter trained. With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of the Top-5 Vancouver Don’ts.

1. Don’t call it “Van” – or “Vancity”

‘Vancity” is a local credit union. “Van” is the groovy west coast city your parents were trying to hitch to until that guy in the pickup asked them if they were looking for a job and they ended up spending the summer in Medicine Hat. Nowadays we call it Vancouver.

2. Don’t assume anyone will know what you mean when you order a “double double”

Tim Hortons arrived in Vancouver only a few years ago. Which means Starbucks and its dark-roast brethern dominate the local caffeine trade and dozens of Asian variations rule the market for cheap lunches, so the eastern-based chain remains a curiosity frequented mainly by Canadians from away. Locals are not immune to the allure of coffee that’s sweet and creamy, but they take it in the form of cappucino and a couple dozen other fancy-pants variations with names precisely callibrated to annoy traditionalists and curmudgeons.

3. Don’t venture off-piste

This warning is especially crucial for Europeans, who tend to think of out-of-bounds as an exhilarating shortcut to their favourite bistro in the charming village one valley over. But there’s only untamed wilderness north of Vancouver’s three north shore ski mountains, and fenced off slopes often end in steep box canyons, where rescue teams will eventually find you, but not necessarily before you succumb to the elements.

4. Don’t forget to order a meal with that beer

Actually, you will be able to have a drink on its own during the Games, though for a while things looked grim for anyone so rash. The problem lay with the province’s ancient liquor licensing laws, which mostly restricted bars to downtown hotels, leaving restaurants to serve the same purpose — and the drinks — pretty much everywhere else. Then in 1999 a provincially mandated requirement to order food with alcohol was finally rescinded. But last October, Vancouver city council almost enacted a new bylaw that would have required at least 50 per cent of restaurant revenue to come from food. Only an industry outcry prevented an Olympics that would have made Salt Lake City’s seem like a lost weekend.

5. Don’t be bothered by a little rain — but fear, fear, fear the snow

Inversely to the rest of Canada, Vancouver doesn’t stop — or even slow down — for rain, but it skids to a long, greasy halt when flakes fall from the sky. The causes are sixfold (at least): ultra-wet snow; temperatures around the freezing mark; hilly streets; a dearth of snow ploughs; a lack of snow tires; drivers in a state of panic and perplexment. If there’s a consolation here, it’s that by February the worst of the winter monsoons are usually over. In theory.

And you thought the Olympics were all about sports

by Jim Sutherland

Even given the performances of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, it’s possible the most enduring memories of Beijing’s 2008 Olympics won’t be athletic achievements at all, but rather architectural ones: the venues Phelps and Bolt excelled in, especially the Water Cube and Bird’s Nest Stadium.

VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE EXPANSION Not entirely a thing of beauty from the street? But a beautiful solution to the problem of where to put a convention centre? Photo courtesy DA Architects/Planners

Yet with its 2010 Olympics, Vancouver hasn’t been going for architectural gold; there have been no competitions and no big-name international architects. Still, the result is several impressive facilities that, if not quite world-beating, absolutely warrant inspection. The annoying irony is, until long after the Olympics are over, there will be no way to see many of them except from a distance. Try to sneak in for a look at the athletes village or convention centre expansion this February and the interior you’ll be checking out instead might be the local equivalent of Guantanamo.

That’s where a Vancouver show that opens February 8 comes in. The little gallery attached to the offices of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia is almost always an interesting place, but its “Bien Venue: 2010 Games Architecture” is shaping up to be something of a blockbuster. The biggest show the gallery has ever mounted highlights 20 competition and non-competition venues and the role of B.C. architects in designing them. There are drawings, models and photographs. And after viewing the exhibit people will be able to make their own, entirely subjective, picks of the Games’ most important venues, as I’ve done below:

Top 5 Architecture Medallists, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games

1. The Athletes’ Village Among the most environmentally sustainable communities on the planet, Vancouver’s Athletes’ Village is designed to achieve “net zero,” meaning it will produce as much energy as it consumes. (For the sake of their future tax bills, Vancouverites hope the bailed-out development also achieves net zero in terms of the money invested.) Curious what the buildings look like inside? Stop into the adjacent sales centre, pretend you’re interested in a $1,000-a-square-foot condo, and tour the display suites.

Photographer Hubert Kang / Courtesy of Cannon Design

2. Richmond Speed Skating Oval With that amazing arched roof made from pine-beetle-damaged wood, it’s as much an engineering marvel as an architectural one.

3. The Woodwards complex Okay, this isn’t an Olympics venue (though it might not have happened had the Games not landed here, in Vancouver) and it’s not part of the AIBC show, but it’s only a block away so walk over and check it out — particularly the Stan Douglas photo installation in the main courtyard. Keep in mind that less than five years ago, the derelict department store centred what was virtually a no-go zone, and prepare to be stunned at the transformation both on site and in the surrounding neighbourhood.

4. Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion (media centre) Some feel it’s not entirely a thing of beauty from the street, but it’s a beautiful solution to the problem of where to put a convention centre and quite a sight – both inside, where wood is the star, and from above, with that vast green roof.

FOUR HOST FIRST NATIONS PAVILION The most ambitious of the 2010 Olympic Games' temporary pavilions? Photo courtesy Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden Architects/Urbanistes

5. Four Host First Nations Pavilion The most ambitious of the temporary pavilions and a prime example of the innovative work Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden Architects has been doing for First Nations clients.

6. A bonus selection that’s even farther offside than Woodwards, the Millenium Line: I know, it’s the Canada Line that was built for the Olympics, and it’s become an instant hit, with ridership much higher than expected. But stations on the turn-of-the-century Millenium Line are the precursor to all that creative and progressive use of wood seen in so many of the Olympic venues. Plus, unlike the mostly underground Canada Line, it’s a true Skytrain, travelling at rooftop level with great views of the snow-capped (we hope) North Shore mountains.