How do you make public art fun and interactive for everyone?

We're making Art for Everyone at the North Vancouver Shipyards! Studio Meanwhile is bringing interactive fun to the shipyards with the help of Vancouver-based artist Pablo Zamudio in our latest City Pong table tennis table. Created in collaboration with the Lower Lonsdale Business Improvement District, this interactive piece of public furniture is meant to spark play, connection, and creativity in the heart of the Shipyards—adding a splash of colour and a fun new way for people to enjoy the space together.

Not your papa's ping pong table.
It's actually Pablo's.

Client

Alimentaria Mexicana Cantina, El Cafecito

Year

2024-2025

Contributors

City Blocks Urban Furniture, Studio Meanwhile, Pablo Zamudio, Ali Bruce, Rachel Rivera, Claire Ouchi

Location

Granville Island, Vancouver

The OPPORTUNITY

Granville Island is already one of Vancouver’s most dynamic public spaces, in collaboration with Alimentaria Mexicana, our Artist series is bringing a new layer of vibrancy through a placemaking initiative that merges urban furniture seating with bold, local urban artists.

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The APPROACH

This project features four unique artist series pieces, integrated directly onto City Blocks’ Low Line Loungers, transforming functional street furniture into a dynamic outdoor gallery. Four Vancouver-based visual artists—Ali Brice, Pablo Zamudio, Rachel Rivera, and Claire Ouchi—have each created site-specific artworks that capture the energy, culture, and creative spirit of Granville Island.

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The bright colours and dynamic patterns fit hand in hand with the vibrant presence of Alimentaria Mexicana.

These loungers live permanently outside El Cafecito. They are ready to serve the early morning coffee runners, afternoon snack seekers and anyone else who's just looking to kick up their feet.

The Outcomes

This collaboration is about turning everyday urban spaces into immersive, welcoming destinations. With these four distinct pieces, we’re proving that public seating doesn’t have to be an afterthought—it can be a canvas for community expression. Come see it for yourself and take a seat in the middle of Vancouver’s creative heartbeat.

This is Art for Everyone.

Pablo Zamudio Ali Bruce & The WKNDRS. Four local artists, each with an affinity for bold shapes and colours, helped bring this project to life.

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Pablo Zamudio is a Vancouver-based artist with an immediately recognizable and vibrant style. With influence from his up bringing in the late 1970s and 80s in Guadalajara Jalisco Mexico, Pablo’s work is rooted in geometric abstraction, op-art illusion with hard edged monochromatic fields of vibrant colours.

Ali Bruce is a Vancouver-based mural artist and illustrator, specializing in bold bright and nostalgic designs. Her methods of abstracting and simplifying the forms of familiar objects with bold colour and negative space create works that exude whimsy and fun. An Ali Bruce pop of colour brings joy to any space it occupies.

The WKNDRS are a creative artist and design duo—Rachel Rivera and Claire Ouchi—based in Vancouver. They stand for community, connection, and creativity with the goal of fostering conversations that spread positivity through art and design. They love to push the boundaries of where art and design can thrive embodying the motto; everything is a canvas.

Granville Island Artist Series Loungers

How do you make public art fun and interactive for everyone?