Vancouver Art Gallery to be lit up this long weekend for FacadeFest (PHOTOS)

The Robson Street side of Vancouver’s old courthouse building, now home to the Vancouver Art Gallery, will be lit up with bright colours each night over the Labour Day long weekend.

Animations designed by three artists – WALLPAPERS, Sonny Assu and Ed Spence – will be projected onto the facade of the building for the Burrard Arts Foundation’s inaugural annual Facade Fest.

The event is similar to other visual arts festivals in Sydney and Toronto, and can also be compared to the projections on Canada Place’s five white sails.

“Each work conveys the artists’ sensibilities within their studio practices, while utilizing the principles and techniques related to the emerging format of projection mapping within a site-specific architectural context,” reads the event description.

“As a whole the project speaks to the ubiquity of digital forms in contemporary life and contemplates the role that new technologies play in contemporary and public art while engaging the public in a grand intervention in the heart of downtown Vancouver.”

Facade Fest runs from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. each night. But for the final show on Monday night, the festival will begin at 8:15 p.m. with a live mapping performance by multimedia artists Julien Abril and Frank Dafaux, with musical guest pianist Sanaz Sotoudeh on a Fazioli piano.

Following the live mapping performance on Monday, there will be an encore projection display of all the artists’ works from the previous nights.

FacadeFest 2015 Vancouver

Where: Vancouver Art Gallery exterior on Robson Street (between Hornby and Howe streets)
When: 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. from Friday, September 4 to Sunday, September 6; 8:15 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Monday, September 7
Cost: FREE