ARCHIVES

Saturday, May 21, 2022, 2 – 3 PM PDT / 5 – 6 PM EDT

Join us online via Zoom for a panel discussion with Lisa Steele, Kim Tomczak, and Alvin Luong on May 21, at 2 PM PDT / 5 PM EDT.

Register HERE.

The panel discussion will focus on Steele and Tomczak’s video The Afternoon Knows what the Morning Never Suspected (2017), a reflection on war, national power, and migration. The panel discussion will be followed by a short Q & A.

The video is currently on view at Centre A, as part of the current exhibition The Living Room, until May 28, 2022.

The film will be available for viewing online until May 21 here.

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Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak have collaborated since 1983, producing videotapes, performances, and photo/text works that have been exhibited in festivals, museums, and galleries around the world. Their numerous grants and awards include the Bell Canada prize for excellence in Video Art, a Toronto Arts Award for Media Arts and in 2005, a Governor General’s Award for lifetime achievement in Visual & Media Arts. They are co-founders of Vtape, a Toronto media arts resource centre and are Professors Emeriti at the University of Toronto in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

Alvin Luong works with stories of human migration, land, and dialogues from diasporic working class communities to create artworks that reflect upon historical development and its intimate effects on the lives of people. Luong has shown and screened artworks at the Images Festival (Toronto), Boers-Li Gallery (Beijing), Gudskul (Jakarta), and The Polygon Gallery (Vancouver). The artist has held research and resident artist appointments at the Inside-Out Art Museum (Beijing), HB Station Contemporary Art Research Center (Guangzhou), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), and Gallery TPW (Toronto).

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Accessibility: The gallery is wheelchair and walker accessible. If you have specific accessibility needs, please contact us at (604) 683-8326 or [email protected].

Centre A is situated on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. We honour, respect, and give thanks to our hosts.

Friday, May 6, 2022, 5 – 7 PM PDT 

Join us at Centre A for the official book launch of “The Maraya Project: Reflecting Urban Waterfronts: Vancouver | Dubai” by M. Simon Levin, Glen Lowry, and Henry Tsang.

Register HERE.

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The Maraya Project documents the collaboration of artists M. Simon Levin, Henry Tsang, and writer Glen Lowry as they track the re-appearance of Vancouver’s downtown waterfront in the Arabian desert twelve time zones away. Maraya, which means mirror or reflection in Arabic, focuses on the urban regeneration megaproject in Vancouver’s False Creek that became an impetus for new thinking about 21st-century urban development and how it subsequently shaped one of Dubai’s first master-planned developments, the Dubai Marina.

The publication includes dozens of full-colour photographs, including foldouts, accompanied by poetic texts, descriptions, lists of projects, events, and activities and a foreword by the Maraya team. Central to the book is a long-form essay by Dr. Alice Ming Wai Jim that traces the eight-year interdisciplinary collaboration and posits the Maraya Project as a kind of imaginative worlding research-creation practice that potentially embodies postcolonial urbanism as a critical transnational methodology. Accompanying writings by Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian, and Kevin Hamilton, respectively, provide insight into the experience of living and working in Dubai at a time of sensational and sensationalized growth, as well as reflecting on the experience of pulling the Sisyphean Cart along the waterfronts while considering the relationship between new media artistic practice and colonial spaces.

An early iteration of Maraya curated by Makiko Hara was exhibited at Centre A in 2011. The 2011 project included an exhibition, a series of public talks, walking tours, and a commissioned interactive website. For the first time in Centre A’s history, the gallery was able to commission the artists to develop an experimental internet platform.

The book is published by Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art.

The book will be available for purchase for a special discounted price of $25 at the launch (regular $30).

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Glen Lowry is a researcher, writer, editor, and publisher whose work investigates new forms of critical and creative practice, most often from the perspective of collaborative investigation. Trained as a cultural theorist (PhD English), Lowry works with artists and collectives on projects that look at questions of social justice and emergent publics. He edited the SFU-based cultural journal West Coast LINE (2000-2012), cofounded LINEbooks | Burnaby, and as editor / consultant with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (2011-2015), travelled across Canada participating in discussions about Truth and Reconciliation. He is currently Executive Director and Advisor to the Provost, Partnerships, Outreach & Research at Ontario College of Art & Design University.

M. Simon Levin has co-created site-based systems that explore the aesthetics of engagement using a variety of designed forms and tools that address our many publics. From large-scale projects in urban environments such as a photo agency for inner city youth, indigenous, medicinal and food-security gardens downtown to a variety of psycho-geographic and psycho-sonic mappings of space, Simon works with diverse communities and audiences towards realising these spatial and pedagogical projects. He has taught in Graduate Studies, Critical and Cultural Studies and Dynamic Media at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and the Department of Art History and Visual Art at UBC. He has published curriculum on Contemporary Public Art, and co-contributed a chapter to Routledge’s Cultural Mapping as Cultural Inquiry. He is currently co-director of Coppermoss Retreat and Residency (est. 2016), situated on the traditional lands of the shíshalh nation in the village of Tuwanek, BC. Seeking to trouble his settler relationship to the land; Coppermoss invites artists up to live and work at the edge of wilderness, fostering new approaches to decolonizing through land-based pedagogy and bio-remediation projects.

Henry Tsang’s projects explore the spatial politics of history, language, community, food and cultural translation in relationship to place. They take the form of gallery exhibitions, pop-up street food offerings, 360 video walking tours, curated dinners, ephemeral and permanent public art, employing video, photography, language, interactive media, food and convivial events. Projects include: Tansy Point, a video installation of the site of the 1851 treaty signings by the Chinook peoples and the US government that were never ratified; 360 Riot Walk, a 360 video walking tour of the 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver, Canada; RIOT FOOD HERE, a public offering of food reflecting on the 1907 Riots; video installations Orange County, and Olympus, shot in California, Beijing, Torino and Vancouver, that explore overlapping urban and socio-political spaces; and Welcome to the Land of Light, a public artwork along Vancouver’s seawall that underscores the 19th Century trade language Chinook Jargon and the English that replaced it. He is based on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, Sto:lo, and Tsleil- Waututh Peoples.

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Centre A is wheelchair and walker accessible. Please contact [email protected] with any questions if you require any assistance.

Centre A is situated on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. We honour, respect, and give thanks to our hosts.

Notes Regarding the Event:

1. Be gently reminded that you will need to be fully vaccinated to attend this event. Face masks or face coverings are encouraged when not drinking or eating. We also encourage you to sanitize your hands before and after visiting. Masks and hand sanitizer are available for you as needed.
2. Face masks or face coverings are necessary when you are in the gallery space. We also encourage you to sanitize your hands before and after visiting. Masks and hand sanitizer are available for you as needed.
3. Due to Sun Wah Centre’s security measures, please locate the security guard posted at the front gate to be let into the building. Otherwise, please call Centre A at (604) 683-8326 during the event hours.

The Centre A Living Room Presents…

Cushions N’ Coolers: A Members Mixer + Dance Party

Saturday, April 23, 2022

7 – 10 PM PDT

Register HERE.

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Join us at our upcoming members mixer in The Living Room! There will be drinks, sangria, snacks, company, and a special headliner – artist and musician Nancy Lee, who will open their DJ set at 8 pm. Dress code: As casual as possible. 

Our early bird deal for non-members gets you two tickets for $12, so make sure to bring along a guest because we’ve got plenty of cushions to go around! This exclusive sale will be on from now until April 9, 2022.

Come on out. Let’s dance!

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For any accessibility needs, please email [email protected].

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Entry/Exit: A Film Screening

Saturday, April 23, 2022, 4 – 6:30 PM PDT

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Centre A’s Living Room presents Entry/Exit: A Film Screening, a program of films that consider the themes of movement and dislocation. The featured artists and collective take into consideration the two themes through lived experiences of immigration, war, and disruption through the lens of animation, documentary, and interdisciplinary performance. The films, therefore, create an intermediate space that points to a push-and-pull sensibility or visual language. 

Program:

Jayce Salloum, untitled part 9: this time (2020), 6:13 minutes. North American Premiere.

Jenny Yujia Shi, This Does Not Authorize Re-Entry (2021), 4:22 minutes

A Wake of Vultures | Conor Wylie, K BODY AND MIND (2021), 75 minutes

Call for Applications

Centre A 2022 Arts Writing Mentorship

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Deadline to submit: April 11, 2022, 11:59 PM PDT

Email to [email protected] (scroll down for “HOW TO APPLY”).

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ABOUT THE MENTORSHIP

Centre A is excited to launch our 2022 Arts Writing Mentorship Program that we hope will build an inclusive community for self-identifying Asian youth while fostering a greater understanding of evolving cultural experiences and ideals. As Canada’s only public gallery devoted to contemporary Asian and Asian-diasporic art, we are committed to creating mentorship opportunities for emerging artists and cultural workers, while facilitating collaborations across local, national, and international contexts. 

This 12-week program is designed to give 6-10 (maximum) young and emerging Asian Canadian writers the practice, feedback, and exposure they need to launch or grow their professional writing practice. As part of the Arts Writing Mentorship, you will receive support, guidance, and training on topics surrounding critical and creative arts writing, and how to better develop and refine your craft. 

Participants will learn from established writers, editors, artists, and curators in a professional setting, while receiving exclusive networking opportunities, mentorship, supervision, and feedback on their writing. The mentorship will consist of weekly programming such as guest talks by local and international writers and curators, field trips and site visits to local artist studios and galleries, guided workshops with your main mentor(s), and peer-to-peer reviews. 

As a result of this mentorship, chosen participants will produce two pieces of critical writing and get to publish their works online and in-print, compensated with industry-standard writer’s fees.

PARTICIPANT ELIGIBILITY

– Self-identifying Asian youth or young adults residing in the Greater Vancouver Regional District between the ages of 18-30; 10 (max.) participants will be chosen for the program

– Should have strong English writing and reading comprehension, with the ability to provide at least ONE writing sample (published or unpublished), i.e., Essay, article, review, blog post, or other pieces of creative or critical writing

– Must be able to commit to the entirety of the program’s duration (12 weeks)

– May be a high-school graduate, post-secondary student, or early/emerging arts professional

– Interested in contemporary art, critical writing, creative arts writing, and/or curation

– Passionate about Vancouver’s arts and cultural scenes and willing to learn, listen, and work alongside a community of Asian Canadian and BIPOC writers, artists, and curators

BENEFITS

– Hands-on experience working with established writers, editors, and curators in a professional setting, while receiving exclusive mentorship and supervision on their writing practice, and one-on-one consultations by request

– Producing two high-quality, peer-reviewed pieces of critical writing to be published ONLINE and in PRINT, compensated with industry-standard writer’s fees

– Networking and collaborative opportunities with local and international publishers, publications, art writers and curators

– Exclusive access to live in-person and virtual talks; including guest speakers such as Monika Gagnon, David Garneau, Su-Ying Lee, Yaniya Lee, Cecily Nicholson, John Tain, and Rita Wong.

MAIN PROGRAM MENTORS

Bopha Chhay is a writer and curator who lives and works on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, also known as Vancouver. She is the Director/Curator at Artspeak, an artist-run centre with a specific mandate to encourage dialogue between visual arts and text/writing practices. She has held positions at Enjoy Public Art Gallery (New Zealand), Afterall (Contemporary arts research and publishing), Central Saint Martins College of Arts & Design (UK), and 221A Artist Run Centre Society (Vancouver). Her curatorial practice is frequently guided by a thematic query that shapes programming over the course of a year; guided by the research areas of transnationalism and diaspora, collective practices, alternative formats, art and labour, sound, independent publishing, and study groups. 

Allan Cho is an academic librarian, literary editor, and community organizer, whose writings are about libraries, publishing, critical race theory, and Asian Canadian culture. Allan completed his BA and Master’s in Modern Chinese History, Master’s of Library and Information Studies (MLIS), and Master’s of Educational Technology (M.E.T.) at the University of British Columbia. As Community Engagement Librarian at UBC, Allan works closely with historically underrepresented and marginalized communities in British Columbia on cultural and heritage preservation and outreach. He is currently the Executive Editor of Ricepaper Magazine, festival director of LiterASIAN Writers Festival, and the Executive Director of the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop (ACWW). Having discovered through genealogical research that his great-great-grandfather had arrived in Vancouver in 1899 and great-grandfather in Vancouver in 1912, Allan is currently working on a book project on the transnational journey of his family within the context of global migration in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

PROGRAM DETAILS 

Location: Centre A, 205-268 Keefer Street., Vancouver, BC. 

– The mentorship is a hybrid program that will be conducted both ONLINE and IN-PERSON

Duration: 12 weeks, April 28 to July 14, 2022

Commitment: The program will run once a week, 4 hours per week

Remuneration: $100 for transportation subsidies. Writer’s fee at a rate of $0.20/word for two pieces of writing (approximately 1000 words for each piece).

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HOW TO APPLY

Deadline to submit: April 11, 2022, 11:59 PM PDT

Please submit the documents below in a single PDF file by email to: [email protected] with “Mentorship Application” in the subject line.

Your application should include: 

1. A letter of intent (1000 words maximum) outlining your background and interest in contemporary art, art writing, art criticism or curation,  as well as your goals for participating in the program;

2. A CV (3 pages maximum), indicating your past and current education, employment, projects, and publications;

3. One Reference (name and contact information);

4. Your contact information (name, address, email, phone number);

5. Writing Sample(s) (5 pages maximum).

Centre A values diversity because it allows us to better understand and meet the needs of the communities we serve. We encourage applications from members of underrepresented and marginalized groups, including but not limited to religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, or disability. Due to the objective of this program, priority will go to applicants of Asian descent and racialized communities.

 

We acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and The BC Arts Council.

     

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Accessibility: Please contact [email protected] with any questions regarding the Mentorship program or if you require any assistance.

Centre A is situated on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. We honour, respect, and give thanks to our hosts.