Posts Tagged ‘Downtown Eastside’

Mapping the Everyday: Neighbourhood Claims for the Future


Date: Project commencing October, 2011 – Exhibition runs November 1st, 2011 – February 25, 2012
Location: The Audain Gallery, Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and the Downtown Eastside community
Website: www.dewc.ca and sfuwoodwards.ca/index.php/audain

This process-oriented exhibition is a collaborative project between the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC), visiting artist Elke Krasny, the art collective desmedia, the collaboration red diva projects, the art collective Coupe, Out of Bounds Festival of Site-Specific Interventions, students from the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University, members of the community, and the Audain Gallery.

Presented as a text-based “horizon line” spanning the walls of the gallery, the exhibition offers a visual map of the demands and aspirations of the DEWC community. These demands, both current and historical, address issues of poverty, violence and insecurity, social exclusion, the deferral of rights, and the legacy of colonialism. Although describing specific challenges, these claims are also expressions of conviviality and solidarity. These expressions exist between women, between women and their neighbourhoods, and between the women of the Centre and their global context.

During the exhibition, the gallery will function as a platform and meeting ground for the production and exchange of different forms of knowledge. The “horizon line” will be a framing device and backdrop for a series of events, workshops, performances, and projects that aim to build neighbourhood constellations that go beyond familiar exchanges. They also provide opportunities for direct community participation and the fostering of critical dialogue, while also challenging the conventional expectation of what constitutes a gallery exhibition. As part of this series, women from the DEWC will teach a series of hands-on workshops, including instruction on cedar weaving and Japanese brush painting, to share their knowledge of traditional artistic practices.

Working closely with the women of the DEWC, Elke Krasny, and our other collaborators, Mapping the Everyday examines the possibilities for and consequences of community-based political activity as articulated in relationship with contemporary artistic and institutional practices.

Mapping the Everyday: Schedule of Events and workshops

Nov. 19, 2pm
How can we collaborate?
Talk with Elke Krasny, Cecily Nicholson, and Sabine Bitter

Nov. 22, 1pm
Workshop on Cedar Weaving
Lead by Stella August

Nov. 24, 1pm
Workshop on Japanese Brush Painting
Lead by Ari Tomita

Nov. 26, 2pm
Collective Futures in the Downtown Eastside
Panel discussion by the desmedia collective

Nov. 27, 7pm
Wednesday Night School: Introduction
Reading group developed by the art collective Coupe

Nov. 30, 7-9pm
Dalannah Gail Bowen
To compliment Mapping the Everyday, the Audain Gallery is pleased to host a live musical performance by jazz and blues singer Dalannah Gail Bowen. Bowen is an experienced, versatile, and dynamic performer with strong ties to the local community and has significant national recognition.

Dec. 18, 7pm
Wednesday Night School: Class Restoration
Reading group developed by the art collective Coupe

Jan. 19, 7pm
Discussing Out of Bounds
Student-lead panel discussion on the Out of Bounds: Festival of Site-Specific Interventions held in the DTES

Jan. 22, 7pm
Wednesday Night School: Marxism & Factography
Reading group developed by the art collective Coupe

Feb. 7, 7pm
Jesus Indian
Screening and discussion of a short film produced by red diva projects and Frog Girl Films

Feb. 10, 7pm
Jennifer Kreisberg
Performance and discussion

Feb. 14, 1pm
Annual February 14th Women’s Memorial March
Starts at Main and Hastings Street, all welcome

Feb. 24, 7pm
Wednesday Night School: How to Trace the Destruction of the Old World on Our Hands
Presentation and discussion by the art collective Coupe

Feb. 25, 7pm
red diva projects
Performance of workshops by Marie Clements, Michelle St. John, and women from the DEWC

Note: The workshops and the Wednesday Night School have limited availability only. Please contact the Audain Gallery for more information at info@audaingallery.ca

With support from the City of Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Grants Program and the participation of the Government of Canada.

Posted on: November 30th, 2011 by Vancouver125
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Soul Gardens Mural Project

Soul Gardens mural at Hastings and Hawk. Photo courtesy of @ArtsVancouver

Soul Gardens is a community public art project led by W2 Community Media Arts that investigates the cultural history of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) as told through stories of food, gardening, and community. A collaboration between five muralists and five artist researchers the project draws heavily on individual and shared narratives within founding DTES cultural groups including the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam Nations, and African, Chinese, Japanese and European settlers.

In addition to a large public mural, Soul Gardens will create a dynamic online interface inviting individuals to share recipes, stories, photos and other information about how food has played a role in shaping their experience of Vancouver.

Muralists:
Jordan Bent, Indigo, Scott Sueme, Melanie Shambach, Take5.

Researchers:
Wayde Compton, Lani Russwurm, Anne Marie Slater, Sid Tan and Cease Wyss.

View more photos and videos documenting the mural on AHA Media’s website.

The mural is located on a wall of the Astoria Hotel building and can be viewed at the intersection of East Hastings Street and Hawks Avenue.

View Larger Map

With support from the City of Vancouver’s Celebrate Vancouver 125 Murals and Great Beginnings programs and the participation of the Government of Canada.

Posted on: November 16th, 2011 by Vancouver125
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Paragraph of Possibility

Date: Exhibition: November 5th – December 17th; Opening Reception: Saturday Nov. 5th, 4-7pm
Location: Access Gallery, 222 East Georgia Street
Website: www.accessgallery.ca

“I have a dream today!” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“And so the three possibilities I have mentioned have always stood before man whenever he has encountered an Other: he could choose war, he could fence himself in behind a wall, or he could start up a dialogue.” – Ryszard Kapuścinski

Access Gallery presents Paragraph of Possibility – a public art project by Vancouver-based artist Tonik Wojtyra.

Paragraph of Possibility takes intellectual shape as a collaborative writing exercise and public art sculpture. Wojtyra has worked to shape the project with the imaginations of the residents of Ross House, participants of a drop-in-art class at the Urban Native Youth Association (UNYA), Bombast Furniture, and the staff of Access Gallery. Weaving these strands of communities, Wojtyra’s exhibition is a milestone in a potentially never-ending narrative identifying our collective dreams.

Paragraph of Possibility was written primarily working with two disparate communities in Vancouver: the residents of Ross House and the Monday night drop-in-art class at the Urban Native Youth Association. Conversations around everyday activities such as dinners, classes and art-making were formed collaboratively into a text. The written work asserts the potential of love and dreams over the power of fear and politics; it will be distributed throughout Vancouver as a poster.

The installed exhibition at Access Gallery creates a further space for collaboration and represents the paragraph aesthetically. Wojtyra has produced a series of works in response to the text of the paragraph including a collaborative sculpture with UNYA and a round-table with Bombast’s Russell Baker. The table serves to extend the project’s dialogue to a wider audience via a series of round-table discussions developed with Access Gallery’s Director Shaun Dacey. The forum series aims to discuss the future of our global imaginary, public space, our youth, local community and Art. Oscillating between the intimately local and the publicly global, the round-tables will address the roles artists play in communities like the DTES.

Roundtables
Saturday, November 26th at 5pm
This roundtable ponders questions surrounding the concept of community.
What is a community? What isn’t? Why? Why not? How do we build it? What are the best tools? What’s most important?
Invited guests:
Charles Haynes / Landlord, Ross House
Sharon Belli / Assistant Director, Carnegie Centre
Andrew Pask / Community Planner, City of Vancouver

Friday, December 9th at 7pm
The next roundtable ponders questions surrounding art’s role in the gentrification of the DTES/Chinatown.
What is gentrification? What positive roles can artists and galleries play in the DTES/Chinatown community?
With invited guests:
Ivan Drury / Carnegie Community Action Project, Board Member of the DTES Neighbourhood Council
Cecily Nicholson / Writer
Russell Baker / Bombast Owner/Designer

The roundtables are focussed on our dreams, possibilities for our “community” and are collegial conversations open to all. With each roundtable, emerging artist Malika Montague will offer her Soup Kitchen project. Montague is preparing fresh vegetarian soup and snacks from scratch in the gallery and serving it free. Donations of food are greatly appreciated.

Amerikino screenings
Friday, November 25th at 10pm
Amerikino is a series of screenings examining the bankrupt American Dream through America’s own silver screen. The series starts with Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man (1995). On the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange Indian named “Nobody” who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world. Popcorn and snacks will be served.

Monday, December 5th at 7pm
Amerikino continues with Don Argott’s Art Of The Steal (2009). A documentary following the struggle for control of art collector Albert C. Barnes’ 25 billion dollar collection of modern and post-impressionist art. Popcorn and snacks will be served.

Stay tuned for upcoming roundtables and screenings.

With support from the City of Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Grants Program and the participation of the Government of Canada.

Posted on: November 8th, 2011 by Vancouver125
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