Things To Do In Vancouver This Weekend

It’s a weekend of the arts! Vancouver International Film Festival begins with indie, new, experimental, quirky, and intriguing films and talks all across the city, Culture Days invites people into the studios and practices of local artists, music will be played and tiny little buttons will be traded. For good measure, there are also a few local sports games in this weekend’s mix.

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

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Friday September 30

Vancouver International Film Festival
Where: Various locations
What:  In its 35th year, VIFF expands the frame to create multi-experiential streams that include some of the best cinema from around the world fused with related talks and events, giving audiences and creators a chance to discover, discuss and connect.
Runs until: Friday October 14, 2016

 

Culture Days in Vancouver
Where: Various locations
What: Culture Days is a collaborative, Canada-wide volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. Experience many free, hands-on, interactive activities  to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, and designers at work in their community.
Runs until: Saturday October 1, 2016

Rove: An Mt. Pleasant Art Walk
Where: Main Street area, Vancouver
What: A self-guided tour – use the map to rove around Main Street to check out galleries, art studios and creative spaces that feature a local artist’s work.

Psychic TV
Where: Venue (881 Granville)
What: Fronted by 80s industrial band Throbbing Gristle’s founder, Psychic TV is particularly known for its intense and visceral live performances and for a creative lineage that includes cultural luminaries such as William S. Burroughs, Derek Jarman, and Timothy Leary.

Trump Card Winner Takes All
Where: The Improv Centre
What: From now through November, everyone’s attention will be glued to a high-stakes game that will affect the world for generations to come – the US election. Vancouver TheatreSports League ups the ante with its own improvised election interpretation.
Runs until: Saturday November 19, 2016

Helen and Edgar
Where: The York Theatre
What: An experiment in long-form storytelling a tale of Oliver and his sister Helen’s strange childhood in Savannah, and their mother’s struggle with madness.
Runs until: Saturday October 8, 2016

Man Up: Sci-Fi Flamers 5000 Gender Spectacular from Outer Space
Where: The Cobalt, 9:00pm
What: A very recent time ago, in a galaxy right here in east van, the twisted minds of Man Up began mapping a journey into the Qniverse on an epic mission to explore the furthest reaches of space, travel the wormiest of wormholes, and discover the deep mystery of human gender.

Open Studio: Arodita Blagojevic
Where: VAL (1965 Main)
What: Internationally renowned European Master Aphrodite Blagojevic is offering Open Studio-Gallery and exhibition in 2D and 3D forms. Sculptures, paintings and mixed media are done in new and unusual media and techniques as well as in traditional techniques.
Runs until: Saturday October 1, 2016

Goddamn Millennials Stand Up II
Where: The Biltmore, 8:00pm
What: Stand-up comedy for children of the 80s and 90s from Sam Tonning, Roman Mancini, San Aung, Mark O’Keeffe and Levi McCachen.

Dinosaur Jr.
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: Here comes some 90s alt rock nostalgia!

The Flick
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Set in a run-down movie theatre, this Pulitzer Prize–winning comic drama follows three underpaid ushers who’ll do anything to keep the beloved and endangered local landmark running. As they share their hidden hopes for the future, an intimacy forms among these outsiders who at first glance have only one thing in common.
Runs until: Saturday October 29, 2016

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Saturday October 1

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The Big Draw Festival
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery and other locations
What: Vancouverites of all ages are invited to take part in free and hands-on drawing workshops across the city in community centres, museums, art galleries and on the street.

13th Annual Hot One-Inch Action
Where: Hot Art Wet City, 7:00pm
What: A one-night only show of button art and social interaction. The tiny art of fifty different artists is reproduced on one inch buttons and these limited edition buttons are displayed on the gallery wall and the audience is offered the opportunity to buy randomly selected buttons in mixed bags of five for $5. Didn’t get the button you want? Trade with the people around you.

Water’s Edge Day
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: A full day of activities for the entire family that explore the shoreline including guided dragon boat tours, kayaking, First Nations canoe tours, arts and crafts workshops, touch tanks, children’s entertainers, live music, and entrance to the Museum.

Senior’s Day at the MOV
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: Seniors can enjoy a reduced admission, as well as free coffee and cookies in the morning.

Hard Rubber Orchestra
Where: Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
What: René Lussier is back in Vancouver for the premiere of his new work We Will See and an exclusive performance with Hard Rubber Orchestra.

BC Lions vs. Ottawa Redblacks
Where: BC Place Stadium, 7:00pm
What: Watch some of Canada’s best football players play football.

Bohemian Rhapsody
Where: The Orpheum
What: Winner of the 2014 Solti Conducting Award, Romanian conductor Cristian Macelaru is one of the rising stars of the classical music world; he will conduct the first symphony of one of Romania’s most important artists, as well as the towering Brahms Violin Concerto, performed by Avery Fisher Career Grant-winner Arnaud Sussmann in his VSO debut.

Art Rapture
Where: 130 West 4th ave
What: Critically acclaimed artists bring an urban flavour to Vancouver’s art scene ubiquitous to art movements in NYC, LA, London, Berlin, Sao Paolo, Buenos Aires & Paris.

Culture Days at Lonsdale Quay
Where: Lonsdale Quay, North Vancouver
What: Free dance classes in ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap & musical theatre, and Middle Eastern dances, and the closing ceremony of Pianos on the Street.
Runs until: Sunday October 2, 2016

NBA Canada: Raptors vs. Warriors
Where: Rogers Arena, 3:00pm
What: Two-time reigning Kia NBA MVP Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, who made NBA history with 73 wins during the 2015-16 regular season, will take on 2016 NBA All-Stars DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors.

Sex with Strangers Album Release Party
Where: The Fox
What: As teased on the band’s previous release, Space in Time, the new album finds SWS fully embracing their new wave influences, while expanding the dynamic margins of their previous efforts.

Fiveleft Leathergoods Runway Show
Where: The Waterfall Building
What: Two runway shows, featuring a decade of designs, will be followed by an after party.

Pennywise
Where: The Commodore
What: Have some punk from the 90s.

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Sunday October 2

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Help Create a Haida Manga Mural
Where: Bill Reid Gallery
What: To celebrate the final day of The Seriousness of Play exhibition, artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas will help create a massive mural in the gallery in his innovative Haida Manga style. Visitors are invited to participate and get playful!

The Signature of All Things
Where: VanDusen Gardens
What: Original artwork created by the Open Book Art Collective and inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel, The Signature of All Things.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Seattle Sounders
Where: BC Place Stadium, 5:00pm
What: Vancouver’s soccer team plays against our neighbors to the south.

Canucks vs. Sharks
Where: Rogers arena, 5:00pm
What: Preseason hockey.

TRENDVancouver
Where: Roundhouse Community Centre
What: A boutique-style marketplace featuring 35 selected vendors from across the west coast, each showcasing the latest style, beauty, design, business and wellness trends.

 

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Ongoing

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Shipyards Night Market (ends this weekend)
Where: Shipbuilders’ Square
What: Over 100 vendors selling fresh foods, locally-made products, crafts, and other wares. There is also a beer garden, food trucks, and boozy lemonade.
Runs until: September 30, 2016 (Fridays)

Indigenous Plant Use (ends this weekend)
Where: Stanley Park, 10:00am
What: Walk through the forest with YUXWELUPTUN’ AAT (Lauraleigh) of Coast Salish, Interior Salish, and Carrier First Nations descent and learn about the traditional and present-day Coast Salish relationships with local flora and fauna. While there will be no collecting on these tours, Stanley Park offers a perfect setting to learn about sustainable harvesting.
Runs until: Friday September 30, 2016

Cosmic Sea (ends this weekend)
Where: Hot Art Wet City (2206 Main)
What: New works from Jenn Brisson, Kristian Adam and Phresha. The nautical and metaphysical theme sets the stage for the many colourful new works by the three artists. Invisible sea creatures, extra-terrestrial ocean babes, jellypurrrs and octophants, magical coral reefs, an army of lollipop licking dolphins floating through the milky way.
Runs until: Friday September 30, 2016

Surreal (ends this weekend)
Where: Gastown
What: An interactive, roaming theatre experience that takes place in the backstreets and alleys of Gastown. Audience members follow the story and characters wherever it goes, engaging with them to help progress the story. Unlike conventional stage theatre, Surreal brings the audience face-to-face with the story and characters, creating a wholly engaging experience.
Runs until: Friday September 30, 2016 (Fridays)

Naufragio (ends this weekend)
Where: 602 E Hastings Street
What: The exhibition is the result of the conversations among three artists born “elsewhere” but who currently live in Vancouver.   This city is not explicitly present in the works, but is present as a locus for the stories that brought these artists together.
Runs until: Friday September 30, 2016

Culture Days in Vancouver (ends this weekend)
Where: Various locations
What: Culture Days is a collaborative, Canada-wide volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. Experience many free, hands-on, interactive activities  to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, and designers at work in their community.
Runs until: Saturday October 1, 2016

Tactile Forest (ends this weekend)
Where: Cityscape Community Art Space (North Vancouver)
What: The theme of botanical life is brought into the gallery landscape. Mossy greens, golden browns, sea and sky blues mimic our natural world through acrylic and oil paints, ceramic and fibre sculpture, contemporary embroidery and unique mixed media photographic works.
Runs until: Saturday October 1, 2016

Open Studio: Arodita Blagojevic (ends this weekend)
Where: VAL (1965 Main)
What: Internationally renowned European Master Aphrodite Blagojevic is offering Open Studio-Gallery and exhibition in 2D and 3D forms. Sculptures, paintings and mixed media are done in new and unusual media and techniques as well as in traditional techniques.
Runs until: Saturday October 1, 2016

Feast on the Fraser (ends this weekend)
Where: New Westminster
What: A 10-day culinary experience that pairs food and fun with a signature event each day.
Runs until: Sunday October 2, 2016

Picasso: The Artist and His Muses (ends this weekend)
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Known for his enormous contribution to the canon of great art in the 20th century, Pablo Ruiz y Picasso (1881—1973) is one of the masters of Modernism. Picasso: The Artist and His Muses will examine the significance of the six women who were most important to Picasso’s artistic development: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque.
Runs until: Sunday October 2, 2016

The Seriousness of Play (ends this weekend)
Where: The Bill Reid Gallery
What: Haida Manga is a contemporary art form that offers a playful way of viewing and engaging with social issues as it seeks participation, dialogue, reflection and action. Influenced by both the tradition of Haida iconography and contemporary Asian visual culture, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas has created an artistic practice celebrated for its vitality and originality by an international audience engaged in issues of ethnicity, identity and relationships.
Runs until: Sunday October 2, 2016

Isabel Nolan: The Weakened Eye of Day (ends this weekend)
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Taking its title from the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy’s The Darkling Thrush (1899), the exhibition examines how the light of the sun, physically and symbolically, manifests or resonates in our thoughts, preoccupations and pursuits. In Hardy’s poem, the sun, described as “the weakening eye of day” is a dismal star drained of its force by a gloomy pre-centennial winter afternoon.
Runs until: Sunday October 2, 2016

Absence: David Wilson
Where: Kimoto Gallery
What: Wilson’s newest body of work explores a number of repeated images that reference specific meaningful images and symbols as he searches for new opportunities to unravel his thoughts on a given subject. Most noticeable in this exhibition is the repetitive use of umbrella imagery.
Runs until: Saturday October 8, 2016

Helen and Edgar
Where: The York Theatre
What: An experiment in long-form storytelling a tale of Oliver and his sister Helen’s strange childhood in Savannah, and their mother’s struggle with madness.
Runs until: Saturday October 8, 2016

Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Five actors play over 40 comical characters, filling the stage with suspects, allies, and heirs in this zany whodunit based on the Arthur Conan Doyle classic. When the wealthy Henry Baskerville is threatened by the fable of a bloodthirsty hound on the moors, Holmes and Watson are on the case to sniff out the culprit.
Runs until: Sunday October 9, 2016

Bharti Kher Matter
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The first major retrospective of New Delhi-based artist Bharti Kher’s work in North America, this exhibition explores issues around identity, aiming to bring together works that speak especially to the perceptions and realities of being female today, implicating personal, cultural and political readings put forward in various aspects of the far-reaching practice of Bharti Kher.
Runs until: Monday October 10, 2016

Richmond Night Market
Where: 8351 River Road (Richmond, BC)
What: Touted as the largest night market in North America since 2000, find all kinds of foods, trinkets, entertainment and more all weekend.
Runs until: Monday October 10, 2016

Vancouver International Film Festival
Where: Various locations
What:  In its 35th year, VIFF expands the frame to create multi-experiential streams that include some of the best cinema from around the world fused with related talks and events, giving audiences and creators a chance to discover, discuss and connect.
Runs until: Friday October 14, 2016

A Good Way Out
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: Joey is a hardworking mechanic who operates as the front man for a biker gang. He joined for protection, but a few bad decisions have him looking for an escape that may not exist. The world premiere of a fierce, compelling look into the precarious world of crime and compromise.
Runs until: Saturday October 15, 2016

Mean Time
Where: Centre A
What: Featuring a pair of works, The Remnant of My Volition (Force Majeure) (2014) and Frustration of Having More than Two Choices to Make in Life (2013). Artist Morgan Wong currently lives and works in Hong Kong. Shortlisted for the Sovereign Art Prize and featured in Hong Kong Basel Encounters, Wong has exhibited extensively in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Australia and Europe, but this exhibition marks Wong’s North American debut.
Runs until: Saturday October 15, 2016

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Unceded Territories
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: Vancouver artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, of Coast Salish and Okanagan descent, is showcased in this provocative exhibition of works that confront the colonialist suppression of First Nations peoples and the ongoing struggle for Indigenous rights to lands, resources, and sovereignty.
Runs until: Sunday October 16, 2016

Trout Lake Farmers Market
Where: Trout Lake
What: This is where you’ll find the vendors who have been doing it since the beginning; what started as 14 farmers ‘squatting’ at the Croatian Cultural Centre back in 1995 has grown into Vancouver’s most well-known and beloved market. Visitors come from near and far to sample artisan breads and preserves, stock up on free-range and organic eggs and meats, get the freshest, hard-to-find heirloom vegetables and taste the first Okanagan cherries and peaches of the season.
Runs until: Saturday October 22, 2016 (Saturdays)

West End Farmers Market
Where: Comox Street, 9:00am
What: Local produce, prepared foods and crafts, hot food and coffee. Take the dog for a walk and enjoy a market in your urban backyard.
Runs until: Saturday October 22, 2016 (Saturdays)

Kits Market
Where: Kitsilano Community Centre
What: Each week the parking lot of Kits Community Centre fills with organic and conventional product, meat, cheese, seafood and plants as well as tasty baked goods, beautiful crafts and musical entertainment by local musicians. Kids can enjoy the playground and waterpark nearby and parents will find the best selection of organic produce around. Hot coffee and hot food available on site each week.
Runs until: Sunday October 23, 2016 (Sundays)

Prohibition City Walking Tour
Where: Chinatown
What: Delve into Vancouver’s dirtiest secrets on this scandal fuelled walking tour. Starting in the world of the saloon, you trace the story of prohibition in Vancouver while winding along the city’s most storied streets. You’ll hear tales of blind pigs, corrupt mayors, and enterprising bootleggers. Plus you’ll see first hand evidence of opium dens and walk down an alleyway once teeming with over 40 “bawdy houses.”
Runs until: Saturday October 29, 2016

The Flick
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Set in a run-down movie theatre, this Pulitzer Prize–winning comic drama follows three underpaid ushers who’ll do anything to keep the beloved and endangered local landmark running. As they share their hidden hopes for the future, an intimacy forms among these outsiders who at first glance have only one thing in common.
Runs until: Saturday October 29, 2016

An Agreeable State of Uncertainty
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Comprised of photographs, drawings, prints and paintings by artists such as Weegee, Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Leon Golub, Lewis Hine, Cindy Sherman, Nancy Spero, Jack Shadbolt and Fred Herzog, these works were selected from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s collection by artist Stephen Waddell.
Runs until: Sunday October 30, 2016

Harry Callahan: The Street
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Harry Callahan (1912–1999) was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. In 2013, the Vancouver Art Gallery received the extraordinary gift of almost 600 Callahan photographs from the Larry and Cookie Rossy Family Foundation.
Runs until: Sunday October 30, 2016

Stephen Waddell: Dark Matter Atlas
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Over the past two decades the Vancouver-based artist Stephen Waddell has become widely known for his photographs and paintings that address urban space, particularly his depictions of the human figure in the modern city. This exhibition will feature a recent body of photographs in which Waddell has departed dramatically from the subject matter of his previous work by focusing on underground caverns in the United States, Canada and Lebanon—spaces once inaccessible that are now open to tourists.
Runs until: Sunday October 30, 2016

The Signature of All Things
Where: VanDusen Gardens
What: Original artwork created by the Open Book Art Collective and inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel, The Signature of All Things.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

Trump Card Winner Takes All
Where: The Improv Centre
What: From now through November, everyone’s attention will be glued to a high-stakes game that will affect the world for generations to come – the US election. Vancouver TheatreSports League ups the ante with its own improvised election interpretation.
Runs until: Saturday November 19, 2016

Across The Top: The Quest for the Northwest Passage
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: This exhibit will transport you to the Arctic where you will learn about its environment and people; the many voyages of discovery; the search for John Franklin’s lost expedition (both historical and modern), and the ultimate discovery of HMS Erebus by Parks Canada.
Runs until: November 2016

Fall for Arts
Where: Whistler, BC
What: Festivals, art shows, markets, movie nights, and arts events all over the city.
Runs until: December 2016

All Together Now: Vancouver Collectors and Their Worlds
Where: The Museum of Vancouver
What: 20 beautiful, rare, and unconventional collections, with something for everyone including corsets, prosthetics, pinball machines, taxidermy, toys, and much more. In this exhibition both collector and collected are objects of study, interaction, and delight.
Runs until: Sunday January 8, 2016

White, Steel, Slice, Mask
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Working together for over a decade, the duo’s interdisciplinary practice typically instigates community-based models of participation in order to re-imagine a material record of the present. They investigate tactics of cultural representation while utilizing the methods of anthropology to examine various forms of collecting, interpretation and display.
Runs until: Sunday January 8, 2016

In the Footprint of the Crocodile Man
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: The Sepik River of Papua New Guinea is one of the largest river systems in the world, extraordinarily beautiful, but seldom visited. It is here that the Iatmul people, who live along its banks, have created internationally renowned works of art primarily inspired by stories of the majestic crocodile as the primordial creator. This unique exhibition will showcase the most comprehensive collection of contemporary Sepik art in North America for the first time. In addition to highlighting the exquisite carvings of Papua New Guinea’s latmul people, the exhibition will delve into their economic, cultural, and spiritual connections to the river system, drawing urgent attention to the logging and mining operations that pose environmental threats to the region.
Runs until: January 31, 2017

What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments below or tweet me directly at @lextacular

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