Welcome to ReIssue Digestif, a bi-weekly-ish round-up of events on our radar. It’s that time of year to switch from PDT to PST, so try and get that extra hour of sleep everyone!
If you are BC- or AB-based and have an exhibition, event or job posting to submit for consideration in the next Digestif (November 16–30), email details to editor@reissue.pub
Jo Cook & Perro Verlag Books by Artists: The Unreadable Sacred
SFU Gallery, Academic Quadrangle 3004, 8888 University Dr, Burnaby BC
Now–December 15, Tuesday–Friday, 12–5pm
Free
The late Jo Cook extended her own artistic practice of printmaking, collage, painting and paper-based works into an array of artist book publishing centred on the premise of collaboration and reciprocity. Together with artist Wesley Mulvin, Perro Verlag Books by Artists supported the publication of generative exchanges in editorial, typographic, and artistic experimentation. The Unreadable Sacred pairs selected prints, paintings, and paper works by Jo Cook along with Perro Verlag Books by Artists held in the Simon Fraser University Special Collections and Rare Books.
Reflection Point: A Barbara Zeigler Retrospective
AHVA Gallery, Audain Art Centre, 6398 University Blvd, Vancouver BC
November 2–December 2, daily 12–4pm
Opening: Wednesday November 1, 5pm
Free
This exhibition presents a selection of Zeigler’s work from the past five decades, broadly focused on the ever-shifting relations between ecosystems and human cultural structures. Working in printmaking, photography, drawing, installation, and collaborative public art projects, her artwork seeks to prompt questions as to the character and consequences of our existing cultural paradigms.
Carol Itter: Choreography of the Everyday
The Cinematheque, 1131 Howe St, Vancouver BC
Thursday November 2, 6:30pm
Tickets here
On the occasion of the exhibition Carole Itter: Only when I’m hauling water do I wonder if I’m getting any stronger, the Belkin and the Cinematheque co-present a series of short films delving into the artist’s works. These films illuminate the choreography of the everyday within Itter’s artistic realm. Itter’s exhibition at the Belkin highlights the artist’s multidisciplinary works and archival materials from the 1960s to the present. Following the screening, there will be a conversation between the artist and Justine Chambers — representatives of two generations of Vancouver artists deeply dedicated to exploring, mining and making sense of the choreography that defines our everyday lives. Make it a double-bill at 8:20pm with choreographer Yvonne Rainer’s 1972 film, Lives of Performers, further underscoring the profound connections between art and life.
Evan Lee: Open Work (years from today)
CSA Space, 2414 Main St, Vancouver BC
See Pulpfiction Books (2422 Main St) for admission
Opening: Thursday November 2, 7pm
Free
In his first solo exhibition at CSA Space since 2006, Vancouver artist Evan Lee presents Open Work (years from today), an installation of experimental lens-based, printed images exploring the subject of elders through drawings, photographs, 3D modelling and 3D prints. Curated by Christopher Bradshaw, Lee’s temporary printed images offer a meditation on the passage of time, reflecting the paradoxical nature of memories and observances: timeless yet fleeting, fragile yet enduring.
Thursday Artist Talk: Francisco Berlanga, “Material Miracle of Craft”
Surrey Art Gallery, 13750 88 Ave, Surrey BC
Thursday November 2, 730pm
Free
Berlanga’s art practice reflects upon his relationship to his Mexican identity as a second-generation immigrant through the lens of traditional crafts including weaving, embroidery, and beading. Berlanga will discuss how the process of craft-making can be transformative, even becoming a miraculous one. In Catholic narratives from Mexico, ‘the miracle’ relates to the story of Guadalupe whose roses stain a cloak with an icon of the Blessed Mary. Textiles can take on miraculous characteristics, and Berlanga will share how this offers new understandings into handcrafts.
Dear Friends &: A reading with Hopeton (Hope) Anderson, Wayde Compton, and Samantha Marie Nock
Grand Luxe Hall, Western Front, 303 E 8th Ave, Vancouver BC
Tuesday November 2, 7:30pm (doors 7pm)
Free, register here
Deanna Fong hosts the final instalment of Dear Friends & reading event of the season, featuring an evening of poetry by Hopeton (Hope) Anderson, Wayde Compton, and Samantha Marie Nock. The event will be in-person and online, here.
Concert: Linda Fox, Neo Image, Mela Melania
Dolly Disco, 555 Gore Ave, Vancouver BC
Friday November 3, doors 10pm
Tickets here
Get into the groove with a night of oonz-oonz with Linda Fox, Mela Melania, and Neo Image.
Screening: Stop the Sweeps
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main St, Vancouver BC
Saturday November 4, 3:30pm
Free
As a part of Heart of the City Festival and co-presented by Gallery Gachet, Ryan Sudds’ documentary chronicles the violent decampments of the unhoused people in the DTES and subsequent community resistance against the ongoing state-sanctioned violence and neglect. To be followed by an informal townhall conversation moderated by the Stop the Sweeps team.
PIDC Project: Dissemination Three
Pat Martin Bates Gallery, 1800 Store St, Victoria BC
November 5–26, Wednesday–Sunday 12–5pm
Free
Featuring artists Amber Downie-Back, Ebony Rose, Evan Locke, Melissa Flagg, Jane Chan, Lee Ingram, Art Action Earwig, Kayla Henry, Valerie Salez, Nicole Mandryk, and Owen Fairbairn, Dissemination Three presents a diversity of work including new collaborative work and individual experimentation from the artists, as well as revisits previously presented collaborative work. Overarching themes include liminal space, our connection to the land, climate anxiety, the body and movement, and the exploration of emerging technologies including generative AI and Augmented Reality.
Bottom Rail on Top by DM Bradford with Cecily Nicholson, Junie Désil & Mercedes Eng
Massy Arts Society, 23 E Pender St, Vancouver BC
Monday November 6, 6–8pm
Free
Join Massy Arts, Massy Books and Brick Books in celebrating the launch of Bottom Rail on Top by D.M. Bradford with Cecily Nicholson and Junie Désil, hosted by Mercedes Eng. Somewhere in the cut between Harriet Jacobs and surveillance, Southampton and sneaker game, Lake Providence and the supply chain, Bottom Rail on Top sets off a mediation between the complications of legacy and selfhood. In a kind of archives-powered unmooring of the linear progress story, Bradford fragments and recomposes American histories of antebellum Black life and emancipation, and stages the action in tandem with the matter of his own life.
Beyond the Land Acknowledgement: How Indigenous Governance is Central to Reconciliation
Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour St, Vancouver BC
Wednesday November 8, 7:30pm
Free
The David Suzuki Foundation presents the first short film from its new series, Treaty Promises, a series exploring Indigenous land governance systems and treaty-making between the Crown and Indigenous Peoples. Episode 1: Treaty making will be screened, followed by a live conversation with some of the Indigenous scholars and activists featured in the films: Severn Cullis-Suzuki (executive director, the David Suzuki Foundation), Margot Young (board chair, the David Suzuki Foundation), Celeste Haldane (chief commissioner, B.C. Treaty Commission), Robert Clifford (assistant professor, Allard School of Law, UBC), Aimée Craft (associate professor, University of Ottawa), Johnny Mack (assistant professor, Allard School of Law, UBC). All five Treaty Promises shorts are available online, here.
From Slander’s Brand
Polygon Gallery, 101 Carrie Cates Ct, North Vancouver, BC
November 10–February 4, 2023
Opening: Thursday, November 9, 7–9pm
Free
Featuring work by Hannah Darabi, Rachel Khedoori and Ron Terada, this three-person exhibition features artworks that are durational, monumental, and archival in nature. Each is the culmination of years of artistic labour created in response to pivotal moments of historical transformation and trauma. Through their works, the artists ask how art — through archival acts that parallel reportage — might act as witness, interlocutor, and critical reflector. At the heart of the exhibition is the question of how artworks give form to events that defy description.