How often does a prank end up becoming an official art installation? Well at least once. Here in my city of Vancouver that exact thing happened. It was just a bit fun that ended up becoming permanent after the locals in the neighbourhood thought it fitting to the area.
Back in 2012 a then mystery prankster decided to replace an official park sign with one that mimed the exact signs posted by the Vancouver Park Board, but with a different name. Guelph Park in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood was, according to the signage, now given a new name – a cool name – a name to reflect a long standing sculpture by artist Michael Dennis. The name placed upon this fictitious park placard was “Dude Chilling Park”. Since the sculpture resembled ‘a dude chilling in the park’ it was a suitable change. Alas, the false sign was removed by officials, much to the disappointment of the neighbourhood. So much so that a resident of the area set up a petition to garner support. It worked. With 1,500 signatures in favour of reinstating the sign, Parks Vancouver did just so in 2014. And there you go, sometimes a prank goes awesome!
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons – User: The Interior
Photo Credit – City of Vancouver Public Art Registry
Wanders The World 
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