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EESTI ELU reedel, 26. veebruaril 2021 — Friday, February 26, 2021
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Symbols of heritage in new Canadian architecture Vincent Teetsov At the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, in Halifax, to visit the transplanted house and paint ings of Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis, you have to go through a network of passage ways across from the Do minion Building, built in 1867, to the Provincial Build ing. Standing outside at the intersection of Hollis Street and George Street, both of these buildings stand firmly in stone, the former with a more plain appearance and the latter bearing ornate column capitals. It’s not a purposebuilt facility, and unfortunate ly, it doesn’t go unnoticed. With questions surrounding making the most of existing buildings, financing, and the possibilities of new construc tion, there are similarities between the development of the International Estonian Centre and the new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. AGNS was in need of more office space and storage for its growing collection of art when the Provincial Building became part of the gallery’s expansion project in 1998. When the gal lery’s 100th anniversary came around in 2008, that need was still there, and the director then, Ray Cronin, put forward his commitment to remake the gal
lery entirely. Current director Nancy Noble, appointed in 2016, is continuing this com mitment. In November 2020, after a half-year international design competition and the Design Competition Exhibition that started in September 2020, one of three designs was chosen for the new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. With public conversation encouraged and designs con sidered by a jury of profession als, the choice became KPMB Architects, together with Omar Gandhi, Jordan Bennett Studio, Elder Lorraine Whitman (Native Women’s Association of Cana da), Public Work, and Trans solar. Among the most noticeable differences in this design from the existing AGNS facility are the gallery’s location and the shapes that illustrate the knowl edge of the Mi’kmaq people in Nova Scotia. Renderings of the new gallery show the building moved down to the corner of Salter Street and Lower Water Street. It extends out all the way out to Halifax Harbour, where there is currently a large parking lot. Where the front of the gal lery faces the street, the defined shape of a peaked cap like those traditionally worn by Mi’kmaq women is visible. Passing under this shape, visi
Composite of architectural renderings from AGNS (left) and IEC (right).
tors enter into the Mawiomi Odeum. Mawiomi means “a gathering.” The space rises up high with light let in between the sloped timber columns. Wherever walls meet, curves are used instead of right angles, which are believed to trap energy. This curvature emulates the organic shapes of nature. The exterior’s metal, terra cotta, and timber will ideally be sourced locally, built with a vertical orientation that’s meant to resemble Mi’kmaq basket weaving. The overall building is lower in height than surround ing buildings and ripples out to the water like the body of katew (“eel”), an animal that has been a vital part of traditional Mi’kmaq meals and ceremo nies, and reflects a relationship of respect for all living orga nisms. Around this shape, spaces outdoors are designed to be inviting for gatherings and
Canada must get serious about targeting Putin’s circle with Magnitsky sanctions Six years after Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was assassinated, Ottawa has made scant use of the laws he desperately wanted this country to pass Marcus Kolga, Maclean’s February 22, 2021 Six years ago, just before mid night on a February night in Moscow, eight shots pierced the darkness along the Moskva River. Just steps from the Kremlin, on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, lay the motionless body of the leader of Russia’s pro-democracy opposition movement, Boris Nemtsov. I saw Nemtsov for the last time the previous Spring, when we had breakfast in a Tallinn hotel. Boris told me that he was counting on Canada to help hold the Putin regime to ac count with Magnitsky sanctions – allowing the government to place targeted asset freezes and visa bans on corrupt foreign officials and human rights abusers. The deterrent effect of sanctions, he believed, would help protect Russian activists from Putin’s efforts to silence them. Canada would not adopt Magnitsky human rights sanc tions until 2017, nearly three years after Nemtsov was killed. And not a single name has been
added to Canada’s Magnitsky list since 2018 – greatly dimi nishing the law’s effectiveness. Boris Nemtsov was not the first or last activist targeted for elimination by the Kremlin. Earlier this month, the British open-source investigative web site Bellingcat published a de tailed report outlining how Nemtsov’s close friend and colleague, Vladimir Kara-Murza, had been tailed by a Russian FSB hit squad in 2015 and 2017. These Kremlin hitmen succeeded in poisoning him twice, both times to within a hair of his life. In August, anti-corruption activist, Alexei Navalny, fell suddenly ill on a flight to Moscow from Siberia. Naval ny’s flight made an emergency landing in Omsk – to the chagrin, we can be sure, of Vladimir Putin – where he re ceived quick medical attention and was later flown to Berlin. Navalny returned to Moscow in January and was quickly arrest ed and imprisoned, facing an uncertain future. Where Canada failed Boris Nemtsov, we now have an opportunity to help Navalny,
Kara-Murza and their fellow activists. They are calling for the application of Magnitsky sanctions against those officials and oligarchs who act as Putin’s caretakers and keepers of billions in assets pilfered by the regime. Among those topping Alexey Navalny’s list are Putin asso ciates with significant business interests and assets in Canada, including Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska. In 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department placed Oleg Deri paska on the U.S. sanctions list “for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, a senior official of the Government of the Russian Federation.” Deri paska had owned a significant stake in Canada’s Magna International, when in 2007 he purchased a $1.5 billion stake in the auto parts manufacturer, before his shares were dumped a year later in the midst of the financial crisis. According to Catherine Belton, the British author of “Putin’s People,” Deripaska had told her in an interview, “I don’t separate myself from the state. I have no
events. The total cost of the new gallery is 130 million Canadian dollars, with 70 million coming from the Nova Scotia provincial government, 30 million from the federal government, and 30 million from AGNS fundraising. As voiced by Jennifer Angel, CEO of Develop Nova Scotia, once the gallery is completed in 2025, it can bring the local community closer together. Considering Halifax’s substan tial tourism industry from visit ing cruise ships, it will give these cruises another solid reason to stop in the city. Symbols are also used in the design for the International Estonian Centre. For instance, the shape of the centre’s court yard follows the contours of mainland Estonia’s borders. Birch trees in the courtyard remind visitors of the glowing white forests of Estonia, while
local vegetation on the roof terrace also ties the outdoor spaces to Canada. The cast foam aluminum panels sur rounding the tops of floors point to the practice of õnneva lamine (literally “luck pour ing”), where drips of cast metal are used to predict the future. Wood floors elicit the aes thetic of modern Nordic design, where neutral surfaces become a canvas for splashes of colour, as would come through in events and exhibits. There is room for music to resonate and fill the community areas. Space and minimalism are understated symbols of heritage that reflect the wide open Estonian land scape. Looking ahead years from now, in either of these complet ed buildings, there will be time and space to examine subtle details that remind us of where we came from.
other interests.” If Deripaska has any current financial in terests in Canada, they are unknown. He and his company En+ remain members of a pro-Kremlin Russian-Canadian trade promotion organization.
finance the construction of a fabulous mansion on the Black Sea coast.” Abramovich’s association with Putin goes much deeper. His 2003 acquisition of the Chelsea football club was, according to one of Belton’s sources, in fact directed by Vladimir Putin, while another source told her that Abramovich “is Putin’s representative.” The leading Russian oligarch, writes Belton, “had become part of the Putin machine, one of the Kremlin’s trusted custodians.” Abramovich is the largest shareholder of Russian steel producer, Evraz, which operates four large Canadian steel pro cessing facilities that produce pipes for the oil industry. Abra movich’s company is a leading supplier of pipes for the Cana
Roman Abramovich, whose estimated wealth exceeds $10 billion, is also identified as a top target for western sanctions by Russian activists. Belton writes that Abramovich’s chari table organization contributed hundreds of millions to a fund controlled by a company created by Putin’s inner circle called “Petromed.” In a recent exposé about Putin’s US$1.37 billion Black Sea palace, Alexey Navalny found that “35 percent of these [Petromed] funds were funnelled through a special off shore firm owned (de facto) mostly by Putin, in part to
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Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, centre, and his wife Yulia, right of him, take part in a march last year in memory of assassinated opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. Navalny, himself, has survived a poisoning and has been imprisoned. Photo: Pavel Golovkin/AP
