Park(ing) Day Special: Vancouver’s first Bike-in Movie Night
On Friday, September 19, the Vancouver Public Space Network presents Vancouver’s first “Bike-in Movie Night”, a public installation offered as a part of Park(ing) Day—an annual worldwide event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public places.
An informative blog post from our last Park(ing) Day describes a short history of the transformations of underutilized parking spaces into engaging temporary installations.
Back in 2005, a group of bold, creative folks at the Rebar Art and Design Studio in San Francisco transformed selected metered-parking spots into a park for a day. Using ‘guerilla’ tactics, this group started a global movement called PARK(ing) Day to expand and challenge the definition of a parking space. Since then, a number of cities have participated in PARK(ing) Day with a variety of temporary installments to demonstrate the underutilized potential of your average parking space. The Vancouver Public Space Network has been taking advantage of this opportunity to creatively and boldly participate in the public realm since 2008.
Marking the 7th year that the VPSN has held a Park(ing) Day event, this year’s “Bike-in Movie Night” will turn the GOPark parking lot on Hastings Street at Hamilton Street into an open-air theatre. The VPSN hopes to provide a fun night of movie watching under the stars for bike lovers, movie buffs, public space conveners, interventionists, and other fine folk.
GOPark parking lot at 300-block W Hastings. Enter from the north side alleyway between Cambie & Homer
Ride your bicycle, take transit or just put your Feet to the Street – VPSN encourages all to attend! The evening starts with bike-focused short films from Vancouver Cycle Chic before the double-bill feature films: The Triplets of Belleville followed by Premium Rush. Movies will begin at 8PM.
FEATURE FILMS
When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters–an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire–to rescue him.
Dodging speeding cars, crazed cabbies, open doors, and eight million cranky pedestrians is all in a day’s work for Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the best of New York’s agile and aggressive bicycle messengers. It takes a special breed to ride the fixie — super lightweight, single-gear bikes with no brakes and riders who are equal part skilled cyclists and suicidal nutcases who risk becoming a smear on the pavement every time they head into traffic.
The Bicycle Valet will be on-hand to babysit your bicycle; brought to you by BEST (Better Environmentally Sound Transportation). Bring blankets, chairs or something comfy to lounge on. VPSN’s Park(ing) Day Bike-In Movie Night is a Rain or Shine event. See the Facebook event page for RSVP details.