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Artspeak is a non-profit artist-run centre, established in 1986 and is a registered charitable organization. Their early association with Kootenay School of Writing served to situate Artspeak within a unique interdisciplinary community of writers, poets, critics and visual artists. Artspeak is operated by a group of artists from the visual and language arts who share concerns in relation to the theory and practice of contemporary art. The mandate of the gallery is to exhibit contemporary art and to encourage a dialogue between visual art and writing. Of particular interest is work that crosses the boundaries between the two disciplines, exploring their common areas of praxis - a distinct aspect of the history of cultural practice in this region.
Throughout their history, Artspeak has played a significant role in addressing the historical, social, and intellectual conditions of contemporary visual and language arts production from the West Coast. They aim to support the practices of emerging and established artists and writers from this region and beyond by providing opportunities to exhibit, publish, and present new work to audiences that are increasingly receptive to contemporary art and ideas. Artspeak actively contributes to the cultural community through our commitment to artists producing challenging, innovative work in diverse media, our affiliation with like- minded groups and organizations, and the public interest they generate in contemporary art.
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On now
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ONSITE
9/5/2008 - 9/5/2010
Christian Kliegel’s ONSITE transforms Artspeak’s functionality and aesthetic in response to the shift to devote Artspeak’s onsite space to publication, edition and archival projects. At once an art and architecture project, Kliegel has worked with Artspeak to create a dynamic, multi-layered and multi-functional environment that will be used as a bookstore, display space and event venue. Kliegel has interwoven the imagined uses of the space into a malleable series of grids and surfaces that will adapt to the rotating projects and events occupying the space over the next two years.
Christian Kliegel is a Vancouver based artist currently completing a degree in architecture at the University of British Columbia. Recent exhibitions of Kliegel’s work include PPPPFFFFFHHHHHHHHHHHHGGG at Helen Pitt Gallery, Vancouver and Production Postings, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver.
Image Credits: Chrisitan Kliegel, ONSITE (preliminary drawings), 2008.
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Coming soon
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I Would Prefer Not To
2/12/2010 - 3/21/2010
Lucy Pullen’s project, I Would Prefer Not To, plays an ineffable game. Occurring between February 12 and March 21 (bracketing the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games), Pullen produced blinds for Artspeak. The blinds, made from a reflective fabric that Pullen has explored extensively in past work, will remain drawn for the 38 cumulative days of the Games. During the day, the blinds appear silvery grey, but in the darkness they will reflect light sources (from street lamps, cars, revelers, protesters) with a blinding brilliance. Both exclusionary and interactive, Pullen’s gesture questions meaningful resistance and indifference. The title borrows from Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener (1853), an existential tale of isolation and passive resistance in the mid-century Wall Street environment of New York. The gesture to pull the blinds on Artspeak, making it an impenetrable space, calls into question participation in the social, ethical, and economic conundrums surrounding the Games. Pullen’s accompanying text (available at artspeak.ca) investigates the idea of a blind spot within the spectacle, positing Artspeak in a position of complicated refusal.
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Brawl
2/24/2010 - 2/24/2010
Artspeak presents Brawl, a new performance work by the Vancouver artist collective Norma. The performance will occur on Andy Livingstone Field, dramatically lit by field lights normally used for sporting events. The field is located on the Carrall Street Greenway, in view of GM Place and other Olympic venues.
Tying in ideas of sport and spectacle at the crossroads of two contrasting areas of the city, Brawl will highlight the fine line between violence and theatre. By extending the collective's interest in exploring group identity, public space and collective behaviour, their choreographed and scripted performance will include texts and actions.
Norma’s work draws from diverse sources, including visual and performance art histories, popular culture, and social behaviour. The collective members are Vanessa Kwan, Diana Lopez-Soto, Josh Neelands, Christy Nyiri, Pietro Sammarco, Erica Stocking, and Kara Uzelman. All members of Norma are undergraduates of Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (now Emily Carr University) and have individual art practices.
This project is part of Bright Light that includes six weeks of temporary public art works and events centred along the Carrall Street Greenway. Commissioned by the City of Vancouver, Bright Light illuminates the neighbourhood from January to March 2010.
Please visit www.bright-light.ca for more information.
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