Joseph Planta's Commentary - thecommentary.ca

Tuesday, 26 April 2005

An Ilanaaq for 2010

By Joseph Planta

VANCOUVER - It's BC Book and Magazine Week, this week to 30 April. Celebrating the writing and publishing in British Columbia is often a thankless task. How many BC magazines do you subscribe to? How many local authors do you read, in concert with those that you read off the New York Times bestseller list, or the Maclean's one for that matter?

It's a good time to have a look at the richness in our province at many events held here in the Lower Mainland, in the Okanagan, and on the Island. (I notice there's nothing happening of note in the interior, perhaps they don't read up there.) This weekend there were booths at the public library in Vancouver, and the week concludes with the Lieutenant Governor's BC Book Prizes at the Renaissance Hotel on West Hastings, with Vicki Gabereau hosting the event. There's a free post-gala reception at 9.00 too. Check out www.bcbookprizes.ca for more information. And here's an interesting event that takes place this Thursday, the 28th. From 6.00 to 10.00 pm up and down Main Street at various venues there's a Literary Tour, hitting a number of the unique places on Main-Pulp Fiction Used Books, Lark, Burcus's Angels, Soma Coffee House, Our Town Café, winding up at the Western Front Gallery. For info on this book tour hosted by Michael V. Smith call 604.684.0228, or hit up www.books.bc.ca.

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It was a remarkable spectacle at GM Place, last Saturday night. The event was the glitzy revelation of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games emblem. Attempting to shroud the logo in secrecy was a futile task. Global Television had earlier provided a mock up of the eventual multi-coloured inukshuk, named Ilanaaq, the Inuit word for friend. Over 1,600 submissions were accepted, and from that chosen was that submitted by the Rivera Design Group of Vancouver. The company's creative director Elena Rivera MacGregor, and designer Gonzalo Alatorre, were present, accepting kudos for the much-anticipated logo, two tickets to the opening ceremonies five years hence, and a prize of $25,000. Rivera MacGregor was beaming and effervescent in her excitement, posing for photographs and being what was a favourite for all the media assembled.

The significance of a logo can't be overstated. It brands the games, and in its symbolism, it transcends in its meaning. An inukshuk is that stone sculpture used by Canada's Inuit for direction. If you've seen those heritage minutes on Canadian cable, it's as the young lad says, that there were those who came before.

The audience at GM Place numbered into the tens of thousands. On a warm spring Saturday, they lined up for an hour or two before the appointed hour to get in. Such was the anticipation and excitement. The televised spectacular boasted a cast of over 500-singers, dancers, gymnasts, musicians and more. Lisa Brokop, the British Columbian born singer, and the internationally acclaimed Cirque du Soleil performed.

The audience was at first coached to exude enthusiasm, but the anticipation of the logo's revelation on national television (on CTV and RDS), as well as the pyrotechnics, choreography, and general enthusiasm of the performers and speakers, infected the audience into cheering, screaming, applauding, and rising on their own in rapture for the totality of the experience.

The broadcast was preceded by the expected speeches of dignitaries-Jack Poole, the Chair of the Board of the Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC); Stephen Owen, the federal minister; Gordon Campbell, the Premier; and John Furlong, the CEO of VANOC. Chief Gibby Jacob of the Squamish Nation also spoke. The broadcast was opened with a film of Canada's soaring landscape, which had a fluttering banner perhaps inspired by CTV, which is the national broadcaster of the Olympics, and whose ads boast a similar banner attached to panoramic film of Canada's physical scenery.

For the tens of thousands gathered, it must have been fun being part of the broadcast. Rather than be part of the show, we were observers. Instead of sitting in the audience with the other ticket holders, we were comfortably ensconced in the fourth floor lounge at GM Place. That's where the media was held, in a 'lock up,' given a look at the logo an hour before the broadcast, but under embargo until the images were beamed on CTV. Still, it was incredible to see the enthusiasm of the gathered crowd.

At the press conference after the broadcast, there were questions asked as to the applicability of the logo to British Columbia and the West Coast. Both Rivera MacGregor, Furlong, and Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik, defended the choice saying it was appropriate and quintessentially Canadian. The lack of a maple leaf was something dismissed by Okalik who said that in the north, trees were non-existent, thus not part of their identity. There are some First Nations though who don't like the logo. Edward John, CKNW is reporting, is less than friendly towards Ilanaaq, saying the logo lacks any West Coast feel to it, and that it doesn't have a First Nations design. Some on television have said it looks good, while some don't like the fact it looks cartoonish, with its purported Pac Man smile. International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge elicited laughter in the audience at GM Place when he said that the logo looked like a goalie. It looks like a multicoloured blob looking much like Gumby.

But get used to the logo. As Rivera MacGregor says, it's something that's serviceable. Everything from credit cards to ice rinks to stadium surfaces, the logo will be something we'll see a lot of in the next five years and beyond.

Rivera MacGregor and her design

The photos that accompany this piece are provided by Michael Kwan. Check out his writing and photography at: http://www.geocities.com/now_thats_entertainment

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