THE FORESHORE: PART II, SESSION I
Tuesday, January 23, 2018, 7-8:30 pm
nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona Branch, Vancouver Public Library
Wo Soon (Mary) Lee Chan Room, 730 East Hastings Street
DIGNITY AND ACCESS
Carmen Papalia and Joulene Tse Parent will discuss issues of cultural accessibility and human rights in the city, including Tse’s ongoing research on the history of Indigenous workers on the waterfront, as well as Papalia’s projects leading up to and including his recent conceptual work Open Access, a new, relational model for accessibility that sets a precedent for considerations of agency and power in relation to the disabling social, cultural, and political conditions in a given context.
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Born in Vancouver in unceded Coast Salish Territory in 1981, Carmen Papalia is a social practice artist and non-visual learner who makes participatory projects about access to public space, the art institution and visual culture. His work has been featured at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Harvard Art Museums,Cambridge; Tate Liverpool, UK; and locally at Gallery Gachet and the Surrey Art Gallery. Papalia is the recipient of the 2014 Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary and the 2013 Wynn Newhouse Award. His current work includes the multifunctional acoustic mobility device produced with Sara Hendren’s Investigating Normal Lab at Olin College of Engineering and Let’s Keep in Touch a collaboration with curator Whitney Mashburn that sets a precedent for haptic criticism to become a viable practice within contemporary art.
Joulene Parent’s maternal lines come from the Indigenous Dene Nation of Northern Saskachewan, and paternal lines from a father who was a working immigrant from Canton, China. Most of Joulene’s childhood was raised in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, the unceded territory of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She is an active Union Member of the International Longshore Warehouse Union, and currently holds a two year Executive position for Local 500 Vancouver. She also sits on the Vancouver District Labour Council, as a Delegate and Co-Chair on the Women’s Committee.
Image Credit:
Documentation from White Cane Amplified, 2015
Screenshot by Philip Lui
Visit theforeshore.org to listen to an audio recording of the event.
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ABOUT THE FORESHORE
The Foreshore is a collaborative multi-year project between Contemporary Art Gallery, Other Sights, Access Gallery The Foreshore is inspired by the deep influence of the waterways on our cities and societies on the West Coast. As a place of unclear jurisdiction, and thus of contestation, friction, and constant movement, those who dwell in this zone must continually adapt to a changing environment. As a site it conjures histories specific to this region: narratives of trade and exchange, habitation and nourishment, resistance and violent erasure. Considering the potential of this zone as both concept and site, the project asks the following: How do we generate conditions of emergence? How can we take up space differently? How do we support unruly practices and futures?
PART I: The Foreshore events in 2016-2017 were hosted in the storefront adjacent to Access’ gallery space at 222 East Georgia. These were bi-weekly open discussion sessions informed by invited artists, writers, curators, and activists. Adding to this exciting program, there was also an artist-in-residence series to provide space and time to artists interested in addressing questions of the foreshore.
PART II: The Foreshore continues from its initial exploration as outlined in Part I. Expanding the reach of the project, sessions are held in public meeting rooms at the Mount Pleasant Community Centre and the nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona Branch, Vancouver Public Library. Part II is comprised of four sessions running throughout 2018
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The Contemporary Art Gallery (CAG) is a non-profit public art gallery dedicated to the research, exhibition, education and documentation of contemporary visual art as it is practiced locally through to internationally. It aspires to generate significant audiences for its innovative and diverse programmes through free access and a profile that is international in scope.
The CAG is the longest standing independent public art gallery dedicated to presenting contemporary visual art in Vancouver. We deliver between ten and twenty exciting exhibitions and off-site projects each year, provide an extensive range of learning and public programs for adults, families and children, offer a series of residencies for Canadian and international artists directly contributing to the local scene, and publish insightful catalogues that create a lasting legacy of exhibited work. We do this while offering all of our programs free of charge through an admission by donation policy. We believe that access to, enjoyment of and engagement with contemporary art and the surrounding debates should be available and open to all.
The Contemporary Art Gallery acknowledges that the area called Vancouver is within the unceded Indigenous territories belonging to the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Other Sights gratefully acknowledges the support of the British Columbia Arts Council, The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 15, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Established as an non-profit artist-run centre in 1991, Access Gallery is platform for emergent and experimental art practices. We enable critical conversations and risk taking through new configurations of audience, artists, and community. For more information visit accessgallery.ca
Access Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and BC Gaming, the City of Vancouver, the Hamber Foundation, the Burrard Arts Foundation, the Contemporary Art Gallery, NSB Reederei, and our committed donors, members and volunteers.