from shangri-la to shangri-la: Ken Lum 2012
This Ken Lum work takes its form from the architecture of squatters’ cabins located at Maplewood Flats during the early to mid-twentieth century.
By the 1940’s, an informal but cohesive community of squatters was living in the ramshackle cabins that lined the area’s intertidal zone. The most acclaimed resident was the English-born writer Malcolm Lowry, who completed his novel Under the Volcano while living there from 1940 to 1954.
By the 1960’s, the area had attracted an assortment of hippies, artists and displaced loggers who sought out nature and self-sufficiency as an alternative to the accelerating pace of development in Vancouver and its suburbs. The longstanding tension between the squatters and the residents of North Vancouver came to a head in December 1971 when most of the mudflat dwellings were burned down by civic authorities to make way for development.
Lum created from shangri-la to shangri-la in 2010 for the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Offsite large scale art program. The work consists of scale replicas of three squatter shacks: the dwelling occupied by Malcolm Lowry, one built by artist Tom Burrows, and one inhabited by Dr. Paul Spong, who later led Greenpeace’s “Save the Whales” campaign.
Ken Lum gifted from shangri-la to shangri-la to the District of North Vancouver in 2010. Situating the squatter shacks in their original Maplewood Flats location allows viewers to travel back in time and reflect on a foreclosed moment in the history of the Lower Mainland.
The cache you seek should be easy to find, but if there are muggles around, you have many options of things to do while waiting for the area to cool down. The Maplewood Conservation Area Office nearby is open Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 am - 2 pm, Weekends 10 am - 4 pm. You can stop in for a visit, check the wildlife sightings board, or simply wander the 3+km of wheelchair-accessible trails that have been constructed in the area, along with occasional resting benches and a viewing platform to permit the public to observe the abundant wildlife. Deer sightings are not uncommon, and the Old Barge Channel is often visited by harbour seals, sea otters, or beavers.
As always have a great Geocache time and I hope you have a chance to visit more public art locations around the North Shore.
IMPORTANT NOTE – if you travel here by car please be careful where you park! Most of the parking here is for the Pacific Environmental Science Centre staff and is well marked as such. For visitors, there are 3 parking stalls near the WBT Office at the south end of the road as well as several more along the western edge of the entry roadway. The parking area gate is locked at 6pm weekdays, 4pm on weekends & holidays. There is no on-site staff to open the gate for you so don’t get caught inside!