eventS calendar
Event Details
Through the lens of contemporary artists’ engagement with the metaphorical and literal processes of fire and the spaces it creates and displaces, The Structure of Smoke includes works that problematize
Event Details
Through the lens of contemporary artists’ engagement with the metaphorical and literal processes of fire and the spaces it creates and displaces, The Structure of Smoke includes works that problematize the poetic, structural and political aspects of fire. These works complicate the inherent contradictions of wildness and domestication, technological progress and social control, colonial conditions, rebirth and death. Holding a smoked mirror to contemporary society, the works in this exhibition offer ways to undo the familiar in how we approach our uncertain future.
Speculative in nature, The Structure of Smoke is associative, contextual and driven by artistic practices that disturb existing power relations and question their own conditions and structures. With a focus on ecologies, interconnectedness and relationality the works and curatorial premise consider relating to land, community, family and wildfire ecologies including the non-human. As we have seen with the migration of smoke across the globe and the birth of a regular fire season, the ways in which we live with fire require new strategies that embrace specific Indigenous and ecological knowledges and the ability to develop relations with fire beyond the spectacle and devastation of its impacts.
The Structure of Smoke is curated by Melanie O’Brian and Tania Willard and made possible with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and our Belkin Curator’s Forum members.
Time
Location
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
1825 Main Mall, Vancouver
Event Details
To turn down the noise of daily life, Fei Disbrow seeks out-of-the-way places where she can find small, unusual organisms. It is in these places where she observes and records
Event Details
To turn down the noise of daily life, Fei Disbrow seeks out-of-the-way places where she can find small, unusual organisms. It is in these places where she observes and records unfamiliar, miniature lifeforms which are integral to this body of Disbrow’s work. Her research focuses on cryptogams, resilient and ancient organisms that cover 30% of earth’s soil surface and play a foundational role in ecosystems around the globe. Found in the Arctic, the desert, forests and cities, they are global extremophiles thriving in hostile habitats, capable of surviving death-like desiccation. This exhibition explores the rich, often-overlooked world of cryptogams—mosses, lichens, and algae—through Disbrow’s sculptural work.
Using a camera as a drawing tool, Disbrow captures these organisms without disturbing them. The images are printed directly onto metal, then cut out, using outlines that are intuitively determined. Sculpted to defy traditional format, the pieces are either gently bent to echo the subjects’ undulating topographies or mounted onto monochrome panels to form photographic relief collages. By isolating these remarkable lifeforms and shifting their scale, each piece – presented not just as a biological subject but as a visual wonder – becomes a quiet contemplation.
Time
Location
West Vancouver Art Museum
680 17th Street, V7V 3T2
Event Details
Growing from the 2023 Gallery exhibition Invisible Fish, and inspired by the Joy Harjo poem “Remember,” remember the earth, remember the sky is a group show focusing on ancestral connections
Event Details
Growing from the 2023 Gallery exhibition Invisible Fish, and inspired by the Joy Harjo poem “Remember,” remember the earth, remember the sky is a group show focusing on ancestral connections through land, air, and memory as experienced and understood by early career artists connected to this territory and in conversation with works from the Gallery’s permanent collection by Salish artists.
Using an array of mediums, including painting, digital art, sound, sculptural installation, ceramic, and natural materials, the artists reflect on themes connected to place and environment, family history and ceremonies, migration and diasporic identities, and spirituality. This exhibition also includes hands-on experiences with art, including a visitor invitation where one can contribute to an interactive sculpture, weekly piñata breaking referencing its history of celebration and ritual, a collaborative playlist where visitors can dedicate a song to their ancestors, and more.
“remember the earth, remember the sky is partially inspired by my work with children with the Gallery’s school program Sharing Perspectives: Indigenous Contemporary Art Workshop,” says Alanna Edwards, Curator of Art & Education Initiatives. “Children are full of joy, curiosity, and wonder and are open to new ideas. I hope all who visit, no matter their age, can come and ground themselves by remembering their ancestors, their connection to place, and their journey.”
Time
Location
Surrey Art Gallery
13750 88 Ave
Event Details
For more than two decades, the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival has been BC’s signature, mid-winter cultural event delivering audacious, innovative, contemporary works of live arts by acclaimed local, national,
Event Details
For more than two decades, the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival has been BC’s signature, mid-winter cultural event delivering audacious, innovative, contemporary works of live arts by acclaimed local, national, and international artists.
Curated, multidisciplinary, international in scope—the Festival animates culture and accelerates social change with performance and multimedia projects that embrace creative risk and share a sense of cultural urgency.
Our artistic vision is to create new possibilities for artistic expression and how we relate to one another, expanding our sense of the world while challenging assumptions. As such, we seek to amplify our position as a connector, cultivating opportunities for artistic kinship and intercultural exchange through both live arts experiences, as well as community engagement and professional development initiatives. We think about accessibility as equity design, from the integration of tools that make our performances more inclusive for people with a range of lived experiences, to programming artistic work that rigorously centres audience experience through thoughtful dramaturgy.
Professional development opportunities at the Festival take many forms and forums. A highlight is the PuSh Industry Series: a performing arts industry initiative that brings together 200+ visionary local, national and international artists and arts workers to engage in professional development and curatorial research activities alongside the artistic Festival program. It’s an opportunity to collectively dialogue industry issues, to spark ideas, to make new connections, and to be transformed by live performance.
Time
Location
Various locations in Metro Vancouver
Event Details
An exhibition of approximately 40 works from the collection of Montreal collectors, Lillian and Billy Mauer. Including photography, paintings and sculptures from this impressive international collection by artists such as
Event Details
An exhibition of approximately 40 works from the collection of Montreal collectors, Lillian and Billy Mauer. Including photography, paintings and sculptures from this impressive international collection by artists such as by Carrie May Weems, Lorraine O’Grady, John Baldessari, Rosemarie Trockel, Doug Aitken, Tatiana Trouvé, Huma Bhabha, Frank Bowling, Betty Goodwin, and Annette Messager. Often drawn to politically and socially engaged art, the exhibition will present a selection of works which represent the breadth of the collection.
Time
Location
Griffin Art Projects
1174 Welch St
Event Details
Surrey Art Gallery Association announces the first Thursday Artist Talk of the season with exhibiting artist Cat Hart from remember the earth, remember the sky. Admission is free. Join Hart as
Event Details
Surrey Art Gallery Association announces the first Thursday Artist Talk of the season with exhibiting artist Cat Hart from remember the earth, remember the sky. Admission is free.
Join Hart as they speak to their work in the exhibition in connection to their artistic practice.
Influenced by queer ecologies and Indigenous teachings about good land relations alongside the deepening
climate crisis, Hart has developed a site-responsive, ecologically accountable art practice that is connected
to place. Using experimental photography, wild clay, and other land-based methods, their work reflects on
memory, place, migration, and biodiversity.
By using traditional, pre-Industrial craftsmanship and creative processes in combination with experimental land-based and site-responsive artistic methods, Hart starts from a place of curiosity, allowing the plants, waters, and soils to guide
and shape the work. “I try to move away from perfection and embrace all outcomes” Hart states. “I seek to highlight
the plants and ecologies that have survived and thrived in spite of our interventions on the land or, in the case of
invasive and introduced species, because of them.”
The saga shop will be open before the talk, 3:30pm to 7:30pm.
Time
Location
Surrey Art Gallery
13750 88 Ave