Events at: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery

Outdoor Screen: Manuel Axel Strain – what do you know?, 2023

Until October 2, the outdoor screen shows what do you know?, a newly commissioned work by Manuel Axel Strain, which the artist created in collaboration with – and in reference to – their relatives and their land. what do you know? comprises three segments that layer voices and locations across space and time, with Strain’s mother, brother, niece and nephew sharing two poems that are in dialogue with one another. As part of the installation, the video is surrounded by an in-situ painting that evokes a power that is traced to different memories, stories and places, becoming a portal into and beyond the moving image.

UBC Outdoor Art Collection: Decolonization Tour

The Decolonization Tour highlights site-specific artworks by Indigenous artists and raises questions around issues of place, space and identity. Considering how these works address urgent social and political concerns, we’ll discuss ideas of settler colonialism, decolonization, reconciliation and the history of UBC’s Vancouver campus, which is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.

UBC Outdoor Art Collection: Decolonization Tour

The Decolonization Tour highlights site-specific artworks by Indigenous artists and raises questions around issues of place, space and identity. Considering how these works address urgent social and political concerns, we’ll discuss ideas of settler colonialism, decolonization, reconciliation and the history of UBC’s Vancouver campus, which is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.

Aporia (Notes to a Medium)

“Aporia (Notes to a Medium)” explores the entanglement of history, mythology, and wishful thinking across various media, particularly in a time of collapsing faith in institutions and rising binarization. The exhibition challenges the certainty of truth’s material and immaterial forms through works that navigate systems of belief and perception. Artists like Elizabeth Zvonar and Mark Lewis deconstruct representations, while Dani Gal’s installation questions the stability of meaning in images and texts. The exhibition also delves into social practices, memory’s materiality, and architectures of transformation. Curated by Melanie O’Brian, “Aporia” engages with doubt as a nuanced strength in contemporary art, inviting critical reflection on constructed realities and their implications for power dynamics. Supported by various organizations, the exhibition is part of the 2024 Capture Photography Festival Selected Exhibition Program.

Conversation: Materials and Methods with Olivia Michiko Gagnon, Coleman Nye and Laurie White

Join Olivia Michiko Gagnon and Coleman Nye in a discussion moderated by Laurie White as they explore their responses to the exhibition “Carole Itter: Only when I’m hauling water do I wonder if I’m getting any stronger.” The conversation will delve into the performative, feminist, and ecological aspects of Itter’s art, focusing on her use of found materials, text, language, and choreography to activate space. The talk will be audio-recorded and accessible online, with free admission for all interested participants.