Vectorial Elevation

From anywhere in the world you can be an active part of Vancouver’s Cultural Olympiad. Starting tomorrow, 20 searchlights over English Bay will be controlled by whoever wants to program a light pattern in the sky on this interactive art work called Vectorial Elevation. More than 2 million people are expected to view the installation in person and online.
Rafael Lozzano-Hemmer is the artist behind the project.

C.O.D.E. at Emily Carr University

C.O.D.E. stands for Cultural Olympiad’s Digital Edition, an event filled with artworks focusing on participation, exploration and research. The exhibition will take Emily Carr University’s hallways, classrooms and staircases on a maze of art that will spill to the surrounding outdoor area. One of my favourite Canadian artists, Janet Cardiff will be showing a work she developed with Georges Bures Miller, The Paradise Institute, a sound and visual experience. CODE Dialogues will bring together artists and curators for a forum on the role of digital practices today.
Vancouver is a great place to be right now. I just hope I will have time to attend all the interesting events happening around this month. And I am not talking about snow sports…

Western Front New Director, Caitlin Jones

Caitlin Jones, executive director of Western Front / photo Paul Kuranko

Canadian Art Magazine has a great interview with Caitlin Jones, new executive director of the Western Front, Vancouver’s artist-run centre. Caitlin brings a very interesting background to her hometown, after spending 10 years in New York where she worked at the curatorial department of the Guggenheim and lectured at places like PS1/MoMA. I was mostly interested on her thoughts about art and internet. “Given the role the web now plays in contemporary culture, my expectation is that any arts organization or curator should be including art made on, by or with the web as an integral part of its program.” she says.

The Edward Curtis Project Exhibition

The Edward Curtis Project is a multi-disciplinary work by Métis/Dene playwright Marie Clements and photojournalist Rita Leistner that blends theatre performance with photographic installation, exploring how historical photography and documentation continue to influence contemporary Aboriginal communities. The creators travelled across North America to conduct research, lead community workshops, record interviews and take still photography as a means of building a dialogue between peoples, communities, perspectives, artistic forms and disciplines (…)

The exhibition runs at Presentation House Theatre through March 23.

Last Days to See the Malcolmson Collection

Man Ray, Ady, c.1930, gelatin silver print

This Sunday, December 20th, is the last day of The Malcomson Collection at Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver. Harry and Ann Malcolmson, from Toronto, have amassed a large collection over the past twenty-five years, going from vintage and historic to contemporary. Several notable photographers can be found among the 110 photographs and objects. Some of the artists included in the show are Tina Modotti, Robert Frank, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, André Kertész, Edward Weston, Alfred Steiglitz, and our local Scott McFarland.

Leonardo da Vinci at Vancouver Art Gallery

The Vancouver Art Gallery just announced that will show, for the first time in history the full collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings from the Anatomical Manuscript. Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man will be presented from February 6 to March 2, 2010 – during the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. During the 17 days of the games, the show will be free to the public.

Elizabeth Zvonar at CAG – Vancouver

Channeling, 2009

Until January 10th you still can see the works of Vancouver-based Elizabeth Zvonar at the CAG. She graduated from Emily Car Institute (now University) in 2001 and got some good venues showing her work since. This exhibition, called On Time, explores the connections between Cubism and rubber bands (!) as metaphors for time. This particular collage, Channeling, reminds me of this.

Skull Cool

A quick selection of contemporary art skulls. Starting, of course, by Damein Hirst’s For the Love of God but going all the way to a Teddy Bear skull.
Do you know of any others?

Damien Hirst

Gabriel Orozco

Jim Skull

Laurent Massaloux

Piotr Uklanski

Stephanie Metz

Christmas Wish List (of Art Books) – part 2

This one is a little bit extravagant: US$480 at Amazon. Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters is a six-volume slipcased set featuring more than 2,000 works and 4,300 illustrations with every known letter to or from Van Gogh. London’s Sunday Times rated it as being “Intense, relentless, gossipy, utterly fascinating”.

Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting weights six and a half pounds – that gives you an idea of how extensive this survey is. Legendary critic and curator Bob Nickas selected 80 artists to be included and gives each one three to four pages of color illustrations and a short essay.

The Philadelphia Museum  of Art is showing the first large retrospective of Arshile Gorky and the book that accompanies the show is a beauty. Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective is a 400-page book that covers the evolution of his style through more than 200 paintings and several essays. If you also want the gossip, try this month’s Vanity Fair for a peek on Gorky’s romantic life.

Emily Carr’s Legendary Student Art Sale

photo by blumpy via flickr

This a hot sale for Vancouver’s art lovers and a great chance to find artsy stock-stuffers. Buy directly from Emily Carr’s up-and-coming artists and designers. Over 100 artists will be showing their goodies from November 27 to 29.
More information here.