ATTACK #15: Of Car Bombs and the Price of War

If you haven't already checked out ATTACK #15, otherwise known as the bombed out SUV in front of the art gallery, you've got mere hours left to head on down there as the exhibit shuts down tonight at 10pm.

I strolled by the much talked about installation by Montreal-based L'Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable (ATSA) on my lunch hour today and was impressed with the charred carcass. There it was in all its melted tire, blown out window, smoking engine glory, and I milled about with all the other rubberneckers snapping photos and checking out the TV mounted inside that berated us for our oil consumption habits. "Hey man, I took a trolley bus down here," I thought smugly to myself.

I wonder if this gruesome art piece is making an impact or preaching to the choir? Pierre Allard, one half of the husband and wife team behind ATSA, was on hand to answer questions and top up whatever it was under the hood that was constantly smoking (dry ice perhaps?). He said the audience response has been positive all across Canada. Even in Calgary, where he thought he'd run up against a lot of opposition, he was met by people who were willing to discuss the issues - including oil company employees.

This is their last show on a cross-Canada tour. The next stop for this hunk of rubble is the junkyard. If you missed out you can still participate by printing off these Citizen's Statement of Offence tickets and ticketing gas-guzzlers and idling cars in your neighbourhood. ATSA's planning on coming back to Vancouver in the fall with a new art piece on Homelessness in the Downtown Eastside.