Welcome to ReIssue Digestif, a bi-weekly-ish round-up of events on our radar. All times in PST.
If you are BC- or AB-based and have an exhibition, event or call-for-submissions posting to submit for consideration in the next Digestif (February 15–29th), email details to editor@reissue.pub
Maureen Gruben: The land that used to be
Contemporary Art Gallery, 555 Nelson St, Vancouver BC
February 2–May 5, Tuesday–Sunday 12–6pm
Opening: Thursday February 1, 7–9pm
Free
Land is fundamental to the work of Tuktoyaktuk-based artist Maureen Gruben. Often drawing on the intimacy of the handmade, Gruben’s work balances the vastness of tundra with the scales at which its inhabitants live with it. This exhibition features the new installation Qikuryuaq (Clay Hills), comprised of approximately 1000 clay beads, prepared by Gruben with the help of family and community members. The number of beads corresponds to Tuktoyaktuk’s population, while the clay they are made from, sourced from nearby shores, alludes to the material erosion of its shorelines, which has reached a state of emergency. Qikuryuaq is accompanied by two works depicting handmade sleds. Together, the works echo the aspiration of the exhibition to, in the artist’s words, “hold the land a little bit longer before it is gone.”
Diane Severin Nguyen: If I hadn’t created my own world, I would have died in someone else’s
Contemporary Art Gallery, 555 Nelson St, Vancouver BC
February 2–May 5, Tuesday–Sunday 12–6pm
Opening: Thursday February 1, 7–9pm
Free
Across her moving image work, Nguyen depicts characters driven to express the enigmatic truths of their existence. At the CAG, Nguyen presents In Her Time (Iris’ Version), a new edit of her 2023 feature-length film In Her Time. Set amid the outsized period sets of Hengdian World Studios, the largest film studio in Asia, the film follows Iris, a young actress searching for her voice as she prepares for a leading role in a Chinese historical epic. This introduces new content shot from Iris’ iPhone camera, intercutting the “official” footage with reflections on the filmmaking process from the actress’ perspective.
Roy Henry Vickers
Burnaby Art Gallery, 6344 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby BC
February 2–April 21, gallery hours here
Opening: Thursday February 1, 7–9pm
Free
This exhibition surveys the extensive printmaking practice of Roy Henry Vickers. Born in the northern village of Lax̱g̱altsʼap (Greenville), Vickers has spent a lifetime drawing inspiration from the Gitxsan, Wet’suwet’en, Gitxaala, Tla-o-qui-aht, and Lkwungen traditional territories he has called home. Practicing over six decades, Vickers has completed dozens of significant carved works and totem poles, advised on numerous major projects including YVR Airport, and is the author of more than 10 illustrated books. His work can be found in private and public art collections around the world.
Stories that animate us
Nanaimo Art Gallery, 150 Commercial St, Nanaimo BC
February 3–April 7, gallery hours here
Opening: Friday February 2, 7–9pm
Free
Storytelling — its scope and significance — lies at the heart of this group exhibition, featuring works by Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, Robert Davidson, Francisco de Goya, Jérôme Havre, David Hockey, Ed Pien, Marina Roy, Cauleen Smith, Amanda Strong, Camille Turner, and Joyce Wieland and the Royal Art Lodge. Oral histories, knowledge systems and cosmologies, as well as personal memories, imaginings and dreams, are highlighted in a rich selection of works on paper and animations. Whether evoking the spirit world, creating fictional tales or endeavouring to make sense of historical and current events, the featured artists vividly reflect on such themes as culture, community, memory, death and identity in order to speak to the past, present and future. Curated by Diana Freundi and Zoë Chan.
Ora Cogan, Hope City Waters, and actual human people
Victoria Event Centre, 1415 Broad St, Victoria BC
Saturday February 3, doors 8pm (19+)
Tickets here or at the door ($10 general admission/$5 student)
Ora Cogan‘s approach to gothic country merges with post-punk, psych-rock and traditional balladry. Known for her singular voice and cinematic compositions, she has collaborated with a multitude of artists while touring extensively throughout Europe & North America, sharing the stage with the likes of Grouper & Mazzy Star. Her recent album, Formless, came out to critical acclaim in 2023. With support with local indie-folk bands, Hope City Waters and actual human people.
There’s a Hole in the Sky
The Cinematheque, 1131 Howe St, Vancouver BC
Wednesday February 7, 7pm
Tickets here
This double bill features Helen Cammock’s There’s a Hole in the Sky Part I (2016) and Black Audio Film Collective’s Twilight City (1989). Cammock’s short travels inland from the shore, as the narrator — always speaking in the first person, whether as herself or as the embodiment of other voices — searches for the last vestiges of a colonial project in freefall. In Twilight City, archival material is set to interviews with a diverse group of academics and activists (including Vancouver’s former city planner Andy Coupland), dream sequences, and footage of the city, captured by a fictional journalist who describes what she sees in a letter to her long-absent mother. Broadcasted two years into Margaret Thatcher’s third term, the film is a “profound meditation on London and on the city, on being black, on the savagery unleashed by the Thatcher government, on exile and on abandonment” (Dan Marks, International Documentary Association).
Alberto Toscano: Late Fascism
Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hastings St, Vancouver BC
Thursday February 8, 5pm
Free, register here
Social theorist and philosopher Alberto Toscano will present on his major new book, Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis, highlighting the continued and necessary development of ongoing anti-fascist thought and organization. Toscano will be in dialogue with Gastón Gordillo, Lisa Lowe, and Jordy Rosenberg with Q&A moderation by Am Johal.
Winter Opening & Panel Discussion
Surrey Art Gallery, 13750 88 Ave, Surrey BC
Friday February 9, 6:30–9pm
Free
This evening is centred around an artist talk for the group exhibition, un/tangling, un/covering, un/doing. Exhibiting artists Becky Bair, Wally Dion, and Claire Yow will be in discussion with curator Suvi Bains, followed by a poetry performance by Natasha Klanipour and music by DJ Hafi. un/tangling, un/covering, un/doing runs until March 17.
Artist Josh Hite’s solo exhibition, A Vista, and the group exhibition Art by Surrey Elementary School Students will also be on view, both running until April 21.
Woolworm, Sun Spots, Bug Bath, Blimp
Green Auto, 1822 Pandora St, Vancouver BC
Friday February 9, doors 7pm
Tickets here or $15 at the door
Soak in the feedback: check out local rockers Woolworm and Blimp, with touring bands Sun Spots (Seattle, WA) and Bug Bath (Reno, NV).
Forms of Resistance: Screening & Discussion
Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hastings St, Vancouver BC
Saturday February 10, 7pm (doors 6:30pm)
Free, RSVP here
This screening pairs an important and rarely seen Palestine resistance focused archival film, RESISTANCE-WHY (1971) by Lebanese filmmaker Christian Ghazi. Preceded by the short, Electrical Gaza (2015) by Palestinian-English artist Rosalind Nashashibi, an exquisite, now elegiac view of Gaza before its current destruction. RSVP before Friday, February 9, at 5pm.
Grand Mamas
Massy Arts Society, 23 E Pender St, Vancouver BC
Sunday February 11, 6:30pm
Tickets here (sliding scale, $15-$35)
Grands Mamas is a volunteer-run literary and storytelling cabaret. 100% of the funds raised go to the February 14th Annual Women’s Memorial March. Featuring readings and performances by Jen Sookfong Lee, Anoushka Ratnarajah, Hazel Jane Plante, Tara Robertson, Natasha Gauthier and more. Hosted by Amber Dawn.
On the Edge Reading Series: El Jones
The University Writing Centre, Emily Carr University of Art and Design (online via Zoom)
Tuesday February 13, 6:30pm
Free, register here
February’s On the Edge Reading Series features El Jones, a poet, journalist, professor and activist living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jones was Halifax’s Poet Laureat from 2013–2015. She teaches at Mount Saint Vincent University, where she was named the 15th Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies in 2017. She is the author of Live from the Afrikan Resistance!, a collection of poems about resisting white colonialism. Her work focuses on social justice issues, such as feminism, prison abolition, anti-racism and decolonization. Her latest book Abolitionist Intimacies examines the movement to abolish prisons through the Black feminist principles of care and collectivity. ASL interpretation is provided. Organized by Mercedes Eng with assistance by Tenaya.
Calls
Artist Application, Vines Festival (Vancouver, BC)
Deadline: February 5
Request for Qualifications, Richmond Public Art Program: Bowling Green Community Activity Centre (Richmond, BC)
Deadline: February 5
Vendor Application, The Eastside Flea (Vancouver, BC)
Open until spots filled
Gifts of Madness Art Submission, Gallery Gachet (Vancouver, BC) and Penticton Art Gallery (Penticton, BC)
Deadline: February 15
Exhibition and Residency, Oxygen Art Centre (Nelson, BC)
Deadline: February 16
Request for Qualifications, Richmond Public Art Program: Temporary Public Art Installation (Richmond, BC)
Deadline: February 29
Request for Qualifications, Surrey Langley Skytrain Public Art Project (Surrey, BC)
Deadline: February 29
2025 Call for Submissions, Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art (Kelowna, BC)
Deadline: March 18