BeatRoute Magazine BC Print E edition May 2017

Dystopia in Little Vancouver
In Situationist vernacular there was a concept
known as “psychogeography” that
originated in Letterist circles and was influenced
by early precursors such as Dadaism
and Surrealism. Psychogeography is
an approach to geography that studies the
conscious and unconscious effects of a geographical
environment on the behaviour
of individuals, which involves reimagining
one’s terrain around them in innovative
ways. Creating one’s own map of the city
is a broad example. What occurs in an underground
artistic community is a specific
example. Whether deliberate or forced, we
operate in this niche, creating space where
the terrain allows us, not where the conventional
framework permits us. The problem
is that this is not New York or Los Angeles.
There isn’t that much space left.
Vancouver is often regarded as one of if not
the “most livable” cities in the world with the
“best quality of life.” Vancouver is unique in that
the extremes of abject poverty and desperation
paired with world-renowned wealth and
“progress” can be witnessed in the span of a few
city blocks. As we enter the age of the future
this city is a utopia in the eyes of many, but in
reality it’s a city that encapsulates a dystopia;
the demise and decay of a system, extremes on
both ends of the spectrum, the pretense of civic
institutions long known to be a hoax to some,
and a population without the means or the will
to enact tangible widespread change through
primarily self-preserving processes. Issues of displacement
and gentrification are intertwined
as they both are executed by the same power
structure and driven by the same motives.
FROM THE DESK OF MITCH RAY
We do have to acknowledge that not everyone
sees things the same way. The explosion
of the rigid right into the optics of the artistic
left in recent months has exposed to a certain
degree the sheltered bubble (self-imposed or
by proxy) and lack of sense of a vast reality
comprised of a range opinions and perceptions
and that far differ from your own. Just because
they aren’t right doesn’t mean they aren’t real.
A refusal to acknowledge is a resignation to
the very same rationale you oppose. It’s called
“hypocrisy.” An acceptance of these differences
as reality can be met with either compliance,
conversation or confrontation. I suggest
that compliance is a forfeiture and that would
be the worst possible approach. One should
pursue the options of conversation or confrontation
depending on the specifics of the
issue at hand.
The battle we are facing is the struggle to
continue to create something out of increasingly
little available space. The city sees the
exact same problem but from a different perspective.
Their response is displacement and
gentrification. They proceed recklessly, acting
as if it’s a big metropolis where there is room
to sweep it’s problems under the rug. This is
a small city. These are real and dire issues. The
physical confines of the landscape will force a
social and artistic reaction. A human reaction
to a structural problem. In a time of increasingly
frequent unprecedented happenings
this will surely be one of them, and it is near
imminent. In the wake of unprecedented happenings
the opportunity to do unprecedented
things presents itself. The horizon is now the
foreground.
photo by Asia Fairbanks
Colby Morgan
12 THE SKINNY
May 2017