Living on the fringe: Inspiring environmentalism through snowboarding
March 10-24, 2015
Equipped with snowboarding gears and guitars, a trio of young environmentalists went on an eight-month trip last year to northern British Columbia on a school bus that run on vegetable oil. One day, they snowboarded their way down the majestic mountains, and the following day they sat around with local First Nations people and school kids, sharing stories, music, concerns, and cheers.
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An “F” from Ai Weiwei
January 13-27, 2015
Unvelled just before the Christmas holiday, a public sculpture in the shape of an “F”, created by the world-renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, sits on a lawn in Harbour Green Park at the north end of Bute Street. The work, enigmatically titled F Grass, has left many people guessing at what it means.
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A look inside the Forbidden City at VAG
November 4-18, 2014
A glimpse of a city that was forbidden to the public for 500 years can now be seen in Vancouver for the first time.
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Making a face: Dutch artist reflects on the immigration experience
Saskia Jetten likes to make faces. A celebrated Dutch artist who recently immigrated to Vancouver, Jetten’s works are in the form of masks, clowns, comics, cartoons and puppets that dot the gallery space at the Burnaby Art Gallery (BAG) until June 22. Some faces are playfully recognizable, such as a clown, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck; other faces are more serious and elusive. Many of the faces suggest two different facets of the same person or conflicted emotions between playfulness and melancholy. As Jennifer Cane, the assistant curator of BAG points out, visitors who have immigration experience may recognize in Jetten’s work the tension of negotiating a new identity in Canada.
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Puppetry festival at MOA exhibits a unique Taiwanese cultural practice
Politicians play puppets in their campaign to impress voters, students cosplay as their favorite puppet characters, and a superstar puppeteer drives a Ferrari. These are street scenes in Taiwan, and Vancouverites will have a rare opportunity to see this puppet art form at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) Nov. 4, when the Ouxi Taiwanese Puppetry Festival kicks off.
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Chinatown activism: a moment in time
October 7-21, 2014
Holding up a protest sign which reads “Save Chinatown,” a group of Chinese people stand in the middle of a Vancouver street. This is one of a hundred black-and-white images from the current exhibition Jim Wong-Chu Photographs 1973-1981: People, Place, Politics, held until Oct. 18 at Centre A Gallery. The exhibition reveals the history of Vancouver Chinatown protest in the 1970s, a time and place that many younger Vancouverites have forgotten.
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Japanese artists bring light to underground art
The exuberant colour and delicate lines of Japanese art, blended with rough and explosive North American street art, will be the highlight of an upcoming show, Hiraki, at Ayden Gallery in downtown Vancouver from Sept. 12 to Oct. 12. The show will feature pop surrealistpaintings by six Japanese-born artists, most of whom are extreme sports enthusiasts.
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Exposing reality in the disguise of Chinese tradition: Contemporary Chinese art show at VAG
Ai Weiwei’s work is here in Vancouver. The world-renowned artist is among 10 prominent Chinese artists whose recent works have been brought together in an exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
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Totem pole maintains Haida oral history
A passion for story and lan- guage, has Haida artist Gwaai Edenshaw using his knowledge of Haida stories to help find the hidden within ourselves at the new exhibit Godanxee’wat: Stone Ribs showing at the Bill Reid Gallery (Jan. 12 until Jul. 5). Edenshaw – who ap- prenticed with Bill Reid when he was 16 – also incorporates the legacy to help people in their contemporary lives.
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