In The Media Tent
Exploring LAND through multimedia art at Digital Carnival 2017
Richmond World Festival might appear, at first, an odd venue for a carefully considered exhibition of new multimedia art. On the sunny Labour Day long weekend, the outdoor track and field of Minoru Park is unrecognisable. Young families mill around happily with big bags of kettlecorn; rowdy teenagers dash between vendors, enjoying the last weekend […]
Woman to Woman, Sister to Sister
A review of Marrow at the Vancouver Fringe Festival
The Havana Theatre has changed since I was last here. I’ve seen a few performances at this venue before; I remembered entering through the restaurant into a dark, spacious room where chairs were set out for audience members. Now, we are guided through a separate entrance; and once inside, I’m impressed to see long rows […]
This Isn’t Fan Fiction
The Girl Who Was Raised By Wolverine, reviewed
Upon entering the Waterfront Theatre, I’m greeted by a shorthaired woman with a pretty, welcoming smile, and a man who sits cross-legged and barefoot behind her, in a somewhat meditative posture, next to a large white bucket. Both people are dressed normally, except for what appears to be an item of shaggy grey fur on […]
When Things Go Sideways
Apocalypse Parade, Possible Worlds and the Value of Life
Written by Justin Ramsey Re:generation is a special series of articles responding to Generation Hot at the 2016 Vancouver Fringe Festival. This is part 5 of 5. And if they were to take a principled stance, what would the future look like? This is a question that artist collective Popcorn Galaxy explores in Apocalypse Parade. […]
Razing Our Children
Saving Mother’s Call to Action
Written by Justin Ramsey Re:generation is a special series of articles responding to Generation Hot at the 2016 Vancouver Fringe Festival. This is part 4 of 5. Before Saving Mother begins, Coast Salish-Nez Perce community activist and writer Kat Norris takes the stage and, drum in hand, asks us to rise to our feet and […]
A Case for Hugging Trees
Empathy in Living On The Grid
Written by Justin Ramsey Re:generation is a special series of articles responding to Generation Hot at the 2016 Vancouver Fringe Festival. This is part 3 of 5. I remember when the UN Climate Change Conference happened in Paris. The cause was so simple, so dire, that swift and immediate action should have been taken. No […]
Fleeing From Our Problems
Cosmic Justice On Accountability
Written by Justin Ramsey Re:generation is a special series of articles responding to Generation Hot at the 2016 Vancouver Fringe Festival. This is part 2 of 5. I am waiting outside a curtain of tarps, which block off a section of the Anderson Street paid parking lot at Granville Island. The lot resembles a dilapidated […]
One Thousand Ways of Doing Nothing
The Lilacs Tackles the Millennial Crisis
Written by Justin Ramsey Re:generation is a special series of articles responding to Generation Hot at the 2016 Vancouver Fringe Festival. This is part 1 of 5. At six o’ clock on a sunny Saturday, I arrive at Granville Island. I’m early, so I walk around the pond, and along the boardwalk south of the […]
The Lady is a Tramp: Klasika by Barbara Adler
Words by Justin Ramsey Photos by Paula Viitanen Long before his rise to prominence as one of the leading thinkers of the Frankfurt School, Herbert Marcuse was a something of a young aesthete. His doctoral dissertation examined the Künstlerroman, a literary genre that situates the artist in a struggle against her prosaic, everyday milieu. Arguing […]
Choose Your Own Adventure
Isabelle Kirouac’s Together ( ) Apart
Written by Justin Ramsey Photos provided by Isabelle Kirouac “Where are you coming from today?” “What is the purpose of your visit?” “How long are you planning to stay?” I’ve been groomed to handle myself with quiet, agreeable compliance at border crossings, and for the first minutes, Isabelle Kirouac’s performance and installation piece Together ( […]