Digital Natives

In this article I provide an overview of Digital Natives, a public art project I co-curated that was commissioned to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the City of Vancouver in 2011. Located on a billboard on Skwxwú7mesh territory adjacent to the Burrard Street Bridge, the project presented Twitter messages from artists and writers from across North America. Selected contributions were translated into the Skwxwú7mesh, Kwak’wala, and hən’q’emin’əm’ languages. I explore the ways in which the project’s approaches to spectacle and authorship, and its tactical responses to the regulation of public space, troubled and complicated the celebratory framework of the Vancouver 125th anniversary civic event.