Celebrations of Change
Tuning in at the Queer Arts Festival
Words and photos by Jen Kennedy On August 1, I attended the Queer Arts Festival’s “I Sing the Body Electric: Walt Whitman & the Beat Generation.” It is only one of the many performances out of three weeks of shows and workshops celebrating queer arts, culture and history through dance, music, theatre, literature, workshops, and […]
Hey Kids, Let’s Put-on a Show!
Theatre director Sarah Faye Bernstein stages a mini-masterpiece in her living room.
Words by Mark Jacobs Photos by Harley Spade We belong in show business. We gotta start young so we can get some steel in our backbone. Well, gee, we’re developing. You couldn’t teach us a trade: we’ve GOT one. And you couldn’t do without it… Oh, we’re only kids now, but someday we’re gonna be […]
Dusk Dances Dazzle in Downtown’s Portside Park
Feeding the cultural vibrancy of the city
Words by Jen Dunford, Edits + Photos by Kendra Archer, Edits by Kaylin Metchie With festival season upon us, there is never a dull moment in Vancouver’s city parks. The weekend of July 4-6 was no exception with the 20th national anniversary of Dusk Dances, an eclectic outdoor dance festival that features a fusion of […]
EPIC-Tom: Exploring Interspecies Art
Words by Brit Bachmann + Photos by Harley Spade In a dark, wood panel room I am sitting at the end of a row of white chairs, the style of chairs typically used during garden weddings. There is an oscillating fan in the corner giving a low hum. In front of me is a projection […]
Site-Specificity: Eight Ounces Half a Pound
Vancouver’s racialized labour history inspires a sculptural response at Chinatown’s Access Gallery.
There is no shortage of artists who concentrate on site-specific work these days; and there is no shortage of galleries looking to display work that bears the strong formative and associative imprints of having arisen in a particular time and space. But most often, the relocation of the work into the gallery setting cannot help […]
VIVO’s Tell-Tale Heart
A preview of VIVO's On the Move installation July 26-31
Words by Brit Bachmann The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear. -Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks Vol.3 [1929-35] Last year VIVO placed an open call for On the Move, a final artist residency in their […]
Mount Pleasant on the Rize: grunt gallery
Discussing urban development with grunt's Glenn Alteen
Words by Brit Bachmann + Edits by Christopher Millin + Photos by Alisha Weng Last month Western Front, grunt gallery, Arts Factory, VIVO and C-Space were awarded a combined $4.5 million in the form of CACs, or Community Amenities Contributions. This money was part of $6 million donated to the City of Vancouver by Rize […]
SHIFT 1-Act Festival
Five diverse courses
Written by Hailey McCloskey Photos by Travers Jeffers, Point Blank Photography The SHIFT 1-Act Festival was one full meal deal night of theatre, and I my appetite was set for one course. However, here I find myself digesting what they describe as “an uncommon collection of works assembled by a jury of Vancouver theatre innovators.” […]
Revenge of the Art Show
Art inspired by movies released in 1984
Written and photos by Jen Kennedy It sounded cool. I like cool. I like doing something social and out of the ordinary. So I go up the steps on this chilly Friday evening into the Hot Art Wet City Gallery. It’s warm; the walls are full of iconic imagery and rehashed impressions of films from […]
Mount Pleasant on the Rize: Arts Factory
A rundown of CAC funding in Mount Pleasant, and the construction of Elia Kirby's Arts Factory
Words by Brit Bachmann Edited by Christopher Millin A wave of arts funding is breaking over the Mount Pleasant area, substantiating its status as one of Vancouver’s most vibrant and experimental artist hubs. On June 11th Vancouver City Council unanimously voted in favour of allocating $4.5 million to select arts organizations in Mount Pleasant in […]