AID memorial

How monuments shape public spaces

SFU’s Harbour Centre campus is not unlike an art gallery; it’s a silent, cool, and dimly lit retreat from the frenzy of West Hastings. It was at Harbour Centre that I attended a free public lecture taught by Dr. Efrat El Hanany, an art history and gender studies professor at Capilano University. She covered landmarks dispersed around the globe. Amsterdam’s “Absorbed by light” is a neat, interactive criticism of smartphone prevalence. Most of the lecture, however, was focused closer to home.  El Hanany urged the audience to touch or caress sturdy, exposed monuments, and even knock on them to see…

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