THE FORESHORE: PART II, SESSION III

Posted on Jun 5, 2018 in Events, Talk

[su_spacer size=”5″] A series of informal sessions of research and knowledge exchange.

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Tuesday, June 5, 2018, 7-8:30 pm

nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona Branch, Vancouver Public Library
Wo Soon (Mary) Lee Chan Room, 730 East Hastings Street

Join celebrated local artist Dana Claxton and art historian Jaleh Mansoor as they debate the following questions, prompted by Claxton’s new series of photographic works: do unresolved aboriginal sovereignty and economics, a housing crisis precipitated by tectonic shifts in global wealth distribution and finally culture, a genre nested within lens-based practices responsive to the collapse of medium specificity, have anything to do with one another? Does the international dispersal of swelling wealth, of surplus value generated elsewhere, have anything to do with the decomposition and re-composition of a local aesthetic? Who or what stands at the vanishing point of two seemingly unrelated phenomenon that locate Vancouver on the GPS of global culture?

This event is part of The Foreshore, presented in partnership with the multi-disciplinary artist collective Other Sights for Artists’ Projects. The Foreshore hosts a series of roving discursive events held at community centres throughout the city of Vancouver, aiming to generate questions and confluence inspired by the conditions of the foreshore, the land along the edge of a body of water that is repeatedly submerged and revealed by the tide. In Vancouver, the term conjures specific histories of trade and exchange, habitation and nourishment, resistance and violent erasure. It might similarly evoke our contemporary lived situation in this city. Considering the potential of this zone as both a metaphor and physical site, year two of The Foreshore initiative pairs together returning speakers and guests of their choosing to deepen a generative and cross-disciplinary conversation around the following questions: Can there be land that is not property? How do we bring the centre to the edge? What is, as yet, unseen?

Image: Dana Claxton, ‘Subterranean Weaving: On the Entwinement of Indigeneity and Hidden Labour in the Making of Contemporary Vancouver’, 2018, (Work in progress). Courtesy the artist

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ABOUT THE FORESHORE

The Foreshore is a collaborative multi-year project between Contemporary Art GalleryOther 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.