An Elegy for Satellite

by Danaan C-J

I met Satellite Gallery fourteen months ago. We had seen each other in passing before that and had smiled politely at each other in recognition, but one day, I found myself making my way down the hallway that Satellite Gallery shared with a night club at 560 Seymour Street. I tentatively boarded the elevator and as I stepped out to be met by Satellite’s signature white walls, I knew that it was the beginning of a lasting friendship. And though I made the acquaintance of Satellite not much more than a year ago, its presence in my life has made such a profound impact on me that I feel as though we have known each other for so much longer.

Dault vs. Cézanne

by Jason Smythe

This article is written from a place of pure joy. Ever since my triumphant return to Vancouver (and by triumphant I mean I survived a year of grad school in Alberta) I have been radiating pure bliss at levels that far exceed the recommended daily dosage. This “toxicity” that I am oozing so willingly can be attributed to the fact that I am no longer reading academic tomes that seem to strive for Saharan levels of dryness, which I suspect is part of a long-standing and incredibly sadistic plot by ivory tower types to make all grad students more boring at parties. Our pain truly is their pleasure.

Book Review: Paris June Fourth, Fifth, & Sixth, Two Thousand & Six by Dana Claxton

by June Lee

Capture Photography festival is an event that features local and international artists and their accomplishments as the media of photography and documentation. Dana Claxton, a Vancouver based artist, has contributed many of her works including her book Paris June Fourth, Fifth, & Sixth, Two Thousand & Six, which recounts her three day stay in Paris, France. Her book contains 77 black and white photographs taken from Parisian urban life, that investigate issues of gender studies, Western culture fetishes, and the commodification of aboriginal aesthetics in contemporary culture.

We are The Collective: Go8 2015

by Farah H. El-Afifi

I don’t think any one of us really knew what to expect out of Go8. I remember us awkwardly shuffling around Satellite Gallery on the first day, not knowing exactly what to do with ourselves. Eventually, we sat in a circle near the elevator and went around introducing ourselves. I could immediately tell that everyone there had so much to offer. Almost instantly we dove into the art world heads first, but we didn’t have to feel lost because we were guided every step of the way by people who were incredibly informed and ready to answer all of our questions. Every tour, presentation, project, and lecture was different and taught things we most probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It’s hard to think that the Go8 program lasted less than a week because we everyday was so packed with new information, new experiences, and a new perspective on art.

When was the Last Time You Visited an Art Gallery?

by Micaela Kwiatkowski

Micaela was on her feet around Vancouver, guerrilla-interviewing few Vancouverites to see how they felt about Contemporary Art.

Jess, Psychology student  

When was the last time you visited an art gallery?

I was at the MoMA and the Guggenheim a few months ago during my trip to New York.

What do you think contemporary art is?

Oh awkward, I don’t really know. Colourful?!

AMOUR FOU: Exposing the Messiness Love

by Shaina Dickson

Angela Washko (Her Longing Eyes) , Brendan Van Hek (Red Composition #1) and Pippilotti Rist (I’m not the Girl Who Misses Much)

The New Media Gallery in New Westminister opened its latest exhibition, AMOUR FOU, appropriately on Valentines Day. Ten featuring artists take on the daunting task of exposing what love truly is: raunchy, damaging, but something we always fall back to. From flashy video installations and large-scale projections to kinky neon works, this versatile exhibition gives the viewer a sensory overload; the gallery is overflowing with sound and light, which fill the space with the anxious energy that we often feel throughout our affairs with love. Despite the exhibit inhabiting nine individual pieces, I couldn’t help but perceive them as one large, interconnected piece. The lights and sounds emanating from each work overlap and interact with one another: layering and conversing, never allowing the viewer to isolate their experience with one piece.

Tom Burrows Exhibition Contributes to Dialogue Surrounding Vancouver Housing

by Shaina Dickson

Opening reception of “Tom Burrows”, January 8, 2015.
Photo by Michael R. Barrick, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery

Tom Burrows, a Vancouver/Hornby Island-based artist, presents a wide breadth of his work at the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery at the University of British Columbia, spanning from the 1960s to the present. Burrows has made crucial contributions to the development of Vancouver’s art scene, as both an artist and educator. The exhibition, curated by Scott Watson, leads the viewer through the timeline of Burrows’ work, showing the progressive momentum of his practice. It begins with his documentation of squatting and travelling, and wraps up with his polymer resin panels.

Narrowing Down Wikipedians’ Gender Gap: Vancouver is to Host Its First Art+Feminism Edit-a-thon

by Adrian Diaz

If you were to physically enter the virtual meeting room of active Wikipedians, the affectionate name given to the thousands of volunteer editors of the popular free online encyclopedia, you would quickly notice an odd demographic distribution. Nearly nine out of every tenth person in that room would be male. Given that Wikipedia’s registration form does not collect their users’ gender information, the exact figures are uncertain. However, several surveys have revealed that only between 9% and 13% of the editors are female.

Vancouver Especially (A Vancouver Special scaled to its property value in 1973, then increased by 8 fold)

by Kiel Torres

“Vancouver Especially (A Vancouver Special scaled to its property value in 1973, then increased by 8 fold)”, Ken Lum, 2015

Condo, trendy café, forward vegan restaurant, hip record store, swanky boutique, Vancouver Special?!, condo, condo, condo…

Ken Lum has transformed 221A’s new outdoor exhibition space at 271 Union Street into the site of crossroads between two Vancouver housing typologies with his new installation, Vancouver Especially (A Vancouver Special scaled to its property value in 1973, then increased by 8 fold). What was once an empty lot sandwiched between two new condominium complexes is now occupied by Lum’s 1:3 scale replica of a Vancouver Special.

Visual Reconstruction of Ideology and Freedom: Only A Free Individual Can Create A Free Society by Grace Schwindt

by Shaina Marie

Grace Schwindt, untitled  (2014)

I stepped into the Contemporary Art Gallery and peered through hundreds of ceiling-to-floor silk ribbons that partitioned the gallery space, separating the cinematic and sculptural components of the exhibition. On one half, you are confronted with a feature-length film installation, Only A Free Individual Can Create A Free Society (2014), in which artist Grace Schwindt reflects on her childhood in leftist Germany by interviewing a leftwing activist shaped by 1960s and ’70s politics. Alongside the film installation stands a sculptural piece created from salt crystals, bronze and ceramic, reminiscent of images within the film.