Performance art

 Justin Ramsey

Synthetic Synthesis

Synthetic Synthesis

Review: It’s Not You, It’s Me @ Concourse Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art and Design (1399 Johnston Street, Vancouver, B.C.) March 27 – April 9, 2014

Review by Justin and Dillon Ramsey Granville Island is a beautiful place; that’s hard to contest. But its beauty is an aesthetic of tensions: here, the natural and industrial converge upon one another in stark, yet strangely harmonious, juxtaposition. Walking from west to east en route to Emily Carr University of Art and Design, lush […]

 Mark Jacobs

Diffractions of the Local: New work by Seven Vancouver-based, Latin American Artists

Diffractions of the Local: New work by Seven Vancouver-based, Latin American Artists

Disparate geographies and contemporary art in Vancouver at Back Gallery Project

Written by Mark Jacobs Photos courtesy Roman, Gabriela Aceves, and Back Gallery Project Diffractions of the Local is a new series of exhibitions at The Back Gallery Project, aiming to celebrate the diverse nonlocal origins of Vancouver’s contemporary art scene. Here’s what The Back Gallery Project has to say about the series: Diffractions of the […]

 Shalon WH

The Lesson – Witnesses: Art and Canada’s Indian Residential Schools

The Lesson – Witnesses: Art and Canada’s Indian Residential Schools

Exhibition at Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery continuing a process of healing and education through art

Words by Shalon W-H Images provided by Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery A witness is defined as one who sees or experiences an event or occurrence take place; one who makes testimony, who testifies, who attests the truth of. To be a witness is to state one’s belief in; give evidence, give proof. I […]

 Ash Tanasiychuk

Unlearning Weekenders: 12 Hour Procession & Artists’ Talk

Unlearning Weekenders: 12 Hour Procession & Artists’ Talk

Artists culminate their research with a procession through Vancouver's East Side, across two bridges, to Third Beach, to teach - or unlearn - more than expected

Words by Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte Photos by Ash Tanasiychuk The proposition was, from the start, intriguing: an open invitation to participate in the planning and realization of a 12-hour performance procession through Vancouver. This procession was organized as the closing event of a year-long research project undertaken by artists Zoë Kreye and Catherine Grau. Carried out […]

 Ash Tanasiychuk

Six Fest @ 6th & Ontario

Six Fest @ 6th & Ontario

East Van community gathers for annual party in the street, complete with potluck, music, dancing... and a wedding!

Photos by Ash Tanasiychuk Six Fest is an annual, free, all day, all ages community event in East Van near Broadway and Main. This was the fest’s third year and featured a huge list of local creative talent, from a ton of musicians: Pitre Therapy Movieland Bushtit Leila Neverland Tyranahorse The Adulthood comedy & music […]

 Hailey McCloskey

Leaky Heaven’s der Wink @ Russian Hall

Leaky Heaven’s der Wink @ Russian Hall

Forging spatial architecture and negotiating its psyche

Words by Hailey McCloskey Water. No wait, trees. Actually, it’s light shining through water on the ground and trees are on the walls. I sit as an island in this multilayered sea of light: I don’t have the comfort of anonymity that being an audience member often provides. This is thrilling, not only for the […]

 Ash Tanasiychuk

Lauren Marsden & Mike Bourscheid @ Trench

Lauren Marsden & Mike Bourscheid @ Trench

Pair of performances draw on the elements of absurdity to challenge contexts of the contemporary art gallery

Photos by Ash Tanasiychuk On Thursday July 25 2013, a night of performance art took place at Trench Gallery in the Railtown district of Vancouver BC. VANDOCUMENT’s Ash Tanasiychuk was there to photograph the event. — From the event’s media release: Night of Performance art featuring: Die Wurst als Zeitmesser (The Wurst as a timer), […]

 Tara Flynn

Agente Costura’s Lisa Simpson @ grunt

Agente Costura’s Lisa Simpson @ grunt

Performance artist reinvents fashion through live 'upcycling' of participants' clothing

Filming and editing by Tara Flynn On July 5 2013, artist Lisa Simpson (aka Agente Costura) transformed grunt gallery in Vancouver BC during an all day (2-10pm) performance. VANDOCUMENT’s Tara Flynn spent a section of the afternoon recording the performance. This beautifully edited piece provides a glimpse into Agente Costura and her work. Agente Costura’s […]

 Ash Tanasiychuk

Monomania II @ Trench

Monomania II @ Trench

Packed house for the opening night of the latest bi-annual exhibition of emerging local talent

On July 4th, 2013, Trench Contemporary Art Gallery held its opening reception for Monomania II: Vancouver Emerging. The exhibition featured over 20 professional Vancouver-based artists from a variety of practises and mediums, including a music/performance piece by Mike Bourscheid entitled “Introducing Myself To The Canada Geese” in which he played an odd bagpipe-like contraption. The […]

 Ash Tanasiychuk

Interview with Video & Performance Artist Lauren Marsden

Interview with Video & Performance Artist Lauren Marsden

An in-studio interview and on-site location visit reveal the history of Marsden's artistic practice and hint at where she's going next

Interview by Celesse McCarthy Videography by Sheng Ho Editing and post production by Ash Tanasiychuk Special thanks to Lauren Marsden for sharing her time with us.   In studio interview: VANDOCUMENT talks to video and performance artist Lauren Marsden Video and performance artist Lauren Marsden invites VANDOCUMENT to her studio to talk about the evolution […]