Unlimited Growth Increases the Divide
Commissioned by the Contemporary Art Gallery of Vancouver, 1990

​Copper letters read, “Unlimited Growth Increase the Divide” across the face of the only remaining building on a downtown city block. in 1989, the surrounding buildings were demolished to make way for a development complex, and over the course of three years from 1990-93 this building became shadowed by the office tower rising above it. But the building remains, as do the convictions of its owner and his family who refuse to sell their property and continue to rent the main floor space to local art galleries.
The letters shines with corporate authority in their first days then fade to black over time. They will slowly oxidize and become the greenish hue of aged copper, the same tone as the three exposed walls of the building that stands in contrast to the homogenizing urban development surrounding it, even as the office tower tries to disguise it.
​The subtext to "Unlimited Growth .." relates to several aspects of public art including the need to address the use of site-specific work as a way of intervening in local issues, and in this instance, acting as marker of resistance by the economically marginalized, as represented by a parallel gallery and a hotel providing affordable housing. Walter raises questions related to the systems underlying the transactions and power plays that constitute normal business in the world of real estate development. In Walter's art the museum without walls is also a museum OF walls, walls new and old, as well as those walls that perpetuate economic class distinctions.
​Excerpt from exhibition brochure by Bill Jeffries
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​This project was supported by Canada Council for the Arts