Video surveillance.” Someone had scratched out the word “ART” with a black marker and written “Religious” in its place. One is reminded that even as Vancouver’s international art world allure is growing, Canada, too, can suffer from conservatism and xenophobia. After all, it was only a decade ago that, when the Vancouver Biennale presented Dennis Oppenheim’s Device to Root Out Evil—a 25-foot, upside-down, New England-style church with its steeple thrust into the ground—it was driven out of town by “concerned” residents who complained it blocked their view. The Vancouver Parks Board was also inundated with complaints voicing offended Christian sensibilities.

The cage/mosque form also references the prison of identity, and in addition to combatting both Islamophobia and extremism, Gharem hopes his work will continue to be a gathering place for disparate communities. With a schedule of events planned to include local South Asian, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern Muslim as well as indigenous groups, the chain-link mosque on the Pacific has become a hopeful beacon amid a sea of strife.   -On a winter’s day, a beaver hurriedly made its way past Gharem’s work en route to a nearby pond. But all is not pastoral in Canada. A nearby sign reads “RESPECT THE ARTWORK. CLIMBING PROHIBITED.