‘Vectorial Elevation’ is an interactive art installation, by Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, which features 20 10-kilowatt robotic searchlights along the shoreline. The beams illuminate over a one-kilometre patch of sky and are visible from more than 15 kilometres away.

Taking advantage of the influx of Olympic visitors, the Whistler Arts Council promotes the endives of local artists throughout the Village as part of its Arts Walk, which links 43 host galleries together hosted by a variety of spaces from coffee shops to hotel lobbies. However, it’s not only these locations that promote artistic interest. The centre of the village offers as well plenty of opportunities to explore or observe artwork.

Roundhouse, Vancouver’s community centre is a historical monument, its 374 steam engine being the one that pulled the first transcontinental train into Vancouver. Ten of the Roundhouse staff had to be laid off a week before the Olympics started due to money diverted to finance the Games.

Artist Ken Wesman, who has been drawing inspiration from the Olympics since the 1988 Games of Calgary, is raising money for the YWCA in Vancouver, a non-profit organisation working mainly with children and women who have suffered from domestic abuse, by auctioning his Olympic themed paintings.

The Vancouver Art Gallery, located in Robson Square, which includes the British Columbia Canada Pavilion at its 4th floor, is marking the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games with a dynamic exhibition of British Columbia’s renowned artists.

The Aboriginal Pavilion, based in the heart of downtown Vancouver (West Georgia Street & Hamilton St), promotes the culture and heritage of Canada’s oldest people, as part of British Columbia’s showcase during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. A light and visual effects show, traditional food and artwork have attracted 14,000 spectators each day since the start of the Games.

AND + W2 is a programme of debates and artworks, constituting the only Games time cultural collaboration between the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012. It is co-produced with W2 in Vancouver and is thematically structured around the Abandon Normal Devices (AND) festival of new cinema and digital culture. AND is a Legacy Trust funded programme in England’s Northwest. Produced in association with FACT, Tenantspin and Dada for Vancouver 2010 and the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme in England’s Northwest.

It was immediately apparent on my first day in Vancouver that experiencing an Olympic city during the games time period is a rich and unique opportunity. My first stop was to register at the British Columbia Media Centre, a slick and professional operation with all the amenities that money can buy and a perfect office from home for the world’s journalists.

Citizen journalism is nothing new to our world of available technology. It has become second nature for people to capture their experience, events or news in their environments on their phones, cameras or computers. We live in a world were journalism is an action and all of citizens have stepped forth into that call to action.

However, this is the first Olympic Games of its kind were the real stories that are happening are not necessarily the ones that are showcased by the sponsor holding media companies. The internet with its …

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights launched its Champion Human Rights! Campaign during the media opening of the CentrePlace Manitoba pavilion at LiveCity Vancouver Downtown.

The campaign, aiming to promote respect and human rights action, asks visitors of the CentrePlace Manitorba pavilion to complete the “Everyone has the right to…” protest sign and have a picture taken with their sign and then future museum in the background. Currently all photographs taken are displayed on a screen in the pavilion but some of them will be shown again when the museum will open in 2012 in Winnipeg.