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 (March 16–31st), email details to editor@reissue.pub
Janitor, Genitals
Afternoon Projects, 603 Powell St, Vancouver BC
Now–March 30, Thursday–Saturday 1–5pm, or by appointment here
Free
Vancouver-based artist Justin Patterson’s solo exhibition Janitor features a selection of work on canvas and linen in pastel, graphite, watercolour, as well as graphite on ceramic reliefs. Themes recurrent in his practice are the overlapping of history and the fragmentation of time. The title of the exhibition is taken from lyrics of the song “Janitor,” by the Suburban Lawns. Exhibition text by Asia Jong.
Unseen Garden & Reopening Celebration
Centre A, #205-268 Keefer St, Vancouver BC
March 1–29, Wednesday–Saturday 12–6pm
Opening: Friday March 1, 5–8pm
Free
Centre A re-opens from its winter renovation with the opening reception for Unseen Garden, featuring the works of Chris Hamamoto and Federico Pérez Villoro. The exhibition investigates the relationships between image and language via machine vision, and the politics behind organising visual content into semantic structures.
The opening reception coincides with a publication launch: Space(s) in Chinatown, a collaborative zine between Centre A, Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice, Hatch Art Gallery, and UBC AMS. Featuring collages and reflections by Chinatown seniors and UBC student volunteers, this English-Chinese bilingual publication is the fruit of a cross-community zine-making event in December 2023, where more than 40 participants, volunteers and staff gathered to create collage art as well as intergenerational dialogue.
Contra Band
Trapp Projects, 274 E 1st Ave, Vancouver BC
March 2–April 7, weekends 1–5pm or by appointment
Opening: Saturday March 2, 1–4pm
Free
Taking its starting point from a piano once owned by the late artist and musician Al Neil, Contra Band invites artists to respond in a pataphysical jam session of sorts. The exhibition reverberates with references and relations near and far but are ultimately united by an acute awareness and response to socio-economic conditions related to the sound of music.
Gravity Wins, Entropy Rules
UNIT/PITT, 2954 W 4th Ave, Vancouver BC
March 2–April 30, Thursday–Saturday 12–5pm
Opening: Saturday March 2, 7–9pm
Free
This solo exhibition presents the distinctly West Coast discipline of holography via the work of Al Razutis, an artist and educator who has spent fifty years dedicated to innovations in media such as early experimental film, broadcasting, holography and virtual reality. Between 1972 and 1977 Razutis leased a two-building site underneath the Granville St. Bridge where he established the first holographic art studio in Canada. Curated by Felix Rapp.
XINEMA: notes on the colour blue / Derek Jarman’s Blue
Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour St, Vancouver BC
Sunday March 3, 7pm
Tickets here
Derek Jarman’s feature film Blue (1993) headlines a series of local and international experimental films that recount the experience of grief, love, distance, and interiority evoked by the titular colour. Shorts by Marzieh Mosavarzadeh, Anna Hawkins, Iris Blauensteiner + Christine Moderbacher, Holly Fisher, and Hope Tucker precede Blue, the seminal and final film by the director, who died of AIDS months following the premier of the film.
Sustaining Apertures: Colin Berg Mbugua, Lys Divine Ndemeye
Or Gallery, 236 E Pender St, Vancouver BC
March 7–July 16, Wednesday–Saturday 12–5pm
Opening TBA
Free
Lys Divine Ndemeye’s debut exhibition features a discursive sculptural project exploring the artists’ collaborative practice and builds upon their significant contributions — through place-based installation and design in contemporary art, architecture, and community planning — to intersectional conversations around social and environmental justice. From light-based interventions to alternative architectural and archival practices, the works invite opportunities to experience diverse cultural teachings, traditions, and values.
Conversation: Colleen Brown, Elizabeth Zvonar and Jamie Hilder
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, 1825 Main Mall, Vancouver BC
Saturday March 9, 2pm
Free
As part of the exhibition Aporia (Notes to a Medium), exhibiting artists Colleen Brown and Elizabeth Zvonar will be in conversation with by artist and writer Jamie Hilder. Having previously written intimately about Brown and Zvonar’s work, Hilder will moderate a discussion on the themes of uncertainty and doubt in their practices, as well as how memory and future predictions are interwoven throughout their work.
Dani Gal: Performance and Opening Celebration
Polygon Gallery, 101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver BC
March 9–July 14, gallery hours here
Opening & Performance: Saturday March 9, 6pm
Free, RSVP here
Historical Records (2005–ongoing) comprises over 700 commercially issued vinyl LPs, which the artist has collected since the beginning of this century. As the collection grew over the years, it was divided into three parts and The Polygon Gallery is showing Part 1, 2005–2018 (comprising 246 records), from the Collection of Migros Museum in Zürich, in its ground floor gallery.
Just before the opening, Gal will be performing Semi-Automatic: The Swamp in June on the Seaspan Pavilion at 6pm, an improvised audio work by which various sound sources will simultaneously be activated and mixed to create an indeterminate ‘braided’ musical composition.
Apollo Ghosts & Midnight News
The Lido, 518 E Broadway, Vancouver BC
Sunday March 10, early show (bands over at 10pm)
Tickets $12 at the door
The Apollo Ghosts kick off their album release and Japan tour with a second show at The Lido (first one’s sold out on Saturday). Openers Midnight News and followed by Janky Karaoke.
Calls
Wednesday on the Wharf, Salmon Arm Arts Centre (Salmon Arm, BC)
Deadline: March 15
Griffin x Emily Carr Residency Awards, Griffin Art Projects (North Vancouver, BC)
Deadline: March 15
Emerging Creators Evergreen Incubator, Art Gallery at Evergreen (Coquitlam, BC)
Deadline: March 15
2025 Call for Submissions, Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art (Kelowna, BC)
Deadline: March 18
Call for Submissions: The Many Faces of Time, Outsiders and Others Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
Deadline: March 31
Call for 3D Artwork, North Van Arts (North Vancouver, BC)
Deadline: April 2
Call for Submissions (Summer Group Exhibition), Langley Arts Council (Langley, BC)
Deadline: June 5
Call for Submissions (Photography Group Exhibition), Langley Arts Council (Langley, BC)
Deadline: June 12