The Art of Stacking Cars
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At a traffic median in the busy urban intersection of Quebec Street and Milross Avenue, near False Creek, in Vancouver, stands a 10-meters high, 11,340 kilogram sculpture of five stacked cars on top of an old tree stump. The art piece titled “Trans Am Totem” was made by Vancouver based artist Marcus Bowcott and unveiled in April 2015.
The cars included in the sculpture are: a 700 series BMW, a Honda Civic, a Volkswagen Golf Mk1 Cabriolet, and a 1981 Pontiac Trans Am on the top. All the vehicles were donated by a local scrapyard. Bowcott had their engines, transmissions and drivetrains removed to reduce their weight, and then mounted them on top of a stump of an old-growth cedar tree, which was transported from southern Vancouver Island. At night, the partially crushed vehicles' headlights and tailights are illuminated by solar powered batteries.
According to the artist, the materials and objects that make up “Trans Am Totem” refer to the 150-year-old history of the place. Before the introduction of heavy industry, this site was a shoreline of tidal flats and massive forest with old growth cedars and Douglas Firs.
Later, False Creek became an industrial zone of sawmills, beehive burners and ringed with ever increasing collections of log booms. Over the years the mills got bigger, the logs got smaller and the second growth timber replaced the old growth. In the 1980s the mills where removed and the area was gradually transformed into its present incarnation of stadiums, high rise towers, entertainment centers and pedestrian side walks.
“Trans Am Totem” reflects upon this site and it’s history through references to old growth forest, logging and stacked, manufactured structures.
