Reece Terris’ Triumph of the Technocrat (2014) in Vancouver’s West End is a public artwork that critiques its own production. Terris asked me to produce a text to embedded in the concrete wall following the waterway from the base of the sculpture. This text makes oblique reference to how the work sits in relation to the process of public art selection and its relation to development in the city of Vancouver.

A SLOW WET MEANDER ALONG THE STONED PLAZA OF FRENETIC URBAN STRUCTURE TOWARD THE DEMIURGE OF PUBLIC ART, THE FISCAL TRACE OF EXACTING DEVELOPMENT MOVING WITH PYTHAGOREAN ACUITY THE EARTHLY OBJECTS OF OUR COLLECTIVE CULTURE THROUGH THE BUREAU OF CIVIC DEMAND; THE SPIRIT OF HEAVENLY SMOKE SPIRALS FROM THE BURNT WOOD OF TRANSCENDENT ASPIRATION OVER THE LONG MARSH OF PANTHEISTIC DECOR AS THE SEEMLY SECULAR RISES AROUND US, AND ART SLUICES DOWN A CRAFTY PIPE—SLEEPY SECONDS OF SOFT DISTRACTION LIKE ANY OTHER TO TAKE OUR NEVER MINDS OFF MATTER’S PRESS—WHILE OVER HERE A WORK ROILS THE GYRE, UNTANGLING FACTS OF THE CIVIC AND ARCHITECTONIC UP-SCALED FOR PERPETUITY’S LONG VIEW (FIFTY YEARS, MAX) IN A DEVICE FOR REFLEXION CALLED TRIUMPH OF THE TECHNOCRAT.