Things to Do in Vancouver This Weekend

This weekend there are some interesting ways to go back and forth in time. Watch a painting from the early 1500s come to life in the form of dance; see a Columbian crime drama set in the 1960s; witness the collapse of a 1970s commune; live the spirit of the 1980s and 90s music video boom; bring the kids to explore the sun and the moon (whose light is around 8 light-minutes and 1.25 light-seconds from us, respectively); or step forward in time to learn about improving salmon habitats. 

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

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Friday March 15

Hieronymus Bosch: The Garden of Earthly Delights (show 1 of 2)
Where: Vancouver Playhouse
What: In honour of the 500th anniversary of the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, renowned Canadian choreographer Marie Chouinard creates a living canvas, embodying the seething, teeming fecundity of Bosch’s most infamous masterpiece. Ten dancers breathe life into Bosch’s writhing figures and tortured souls with movement and images as video projections draw the audience deeper into this surreal world.

Midian Farm
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: From 1971 – 1977, Midian Farm was a back-to-the-land social experiment created by a community of urban baby boomers from Toronto. Part of the youth counterculture movement during a period of social and political re-imagining, its utopian vision married Christian beliefs with leftist sympathies. The participants had little-to-no experience in agriculture or farming, but they believed that with faith and love they could change the world. Midian Farm was just the starting point. Inevitably, things went awry, and after years of hardship and struggle, the collective collapsed in on itself.wit
Runs until: Tuesday March 19, 2019

Actors
Where: The Biltmore
What: Local darkwave electro-mod post-punk.

Marine Life
Where: Firehall Arts Centre
What: The story revolves around an environmental activist who falls in love with her opposite. Incorporating magic realism, humour and live music, Marine Life explores themes of environmentalism, creativity, mental illness and personal responsibility in a delicately dark romantic comedy, set against a backdrop of apocalyptic proportions.
Runs until: Saturday March 23, 2019

Music Sea to Sea
Where: Shaughnessy Heights United Church 
What: This concert will mark the 92 domestic and foreign tours with the Vancouver Chamber Choir which Jon Washburn has led during the last half century.

Gross Misconduct
Where: Gateway Theatre (Richmond, BC)
What: Now in his early fifties, Deke has been in Millhaven Prison without a cellmate for the past twenty years. He is surprised and annoyed when Corey, a twentysomething rich kid, joins him in his cell. Deke is convicted for killing his sister Abigail’s rapist, and “newbie” Corey is in prison for sexual assault.
Runs until: Saturday March 23, 2019

Cheech & Chong
Where: Hard Rock Casino (Coquitlam, BC)
What: A Grammy Award–winning comedy duo consisting of Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong. The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films, which were based on the hippie and free love era, and especially drug and counterculture movements, most notably their love for cannabis.

Vancouver Canucks vs. New Jersey Devils
Where: Rogers Arena
What: It’s a hockey game!

St. Patrick’s Day Punk-Stravaganza (day 1 of 2)
Where: The Rickshaw
What: The Dreadnoughts host some of their favourite local punk/folk/Irish/gypsy/ska/metal bands over two nights before taking the stage themselves with their usual inebriated mayhem.

Within Temptation & In Flames
Where: The Vogue
What: A Dutch symphonic metal band and a Swedish heavy metal band.

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Saturday March 16

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VSO Presents: David Kadouch
Where: The Orpheum
What: Highly-decorated French pianist David Kadouch makes his VSO debut performing Beethoven’s dramatic, ferocious Piano Concerto No. 3, a work by a composer whose great creative genius is on full display. We also hear Beethoven’s very first symphony, a piece composed at the height of his powers, and giving every sign of the astonishing body of work yet to come.
Runs until: Sunday March 17, 2019

Rainwater and Salmon in the City
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: City rainwater is typically flushed away quickly, out of sight and into our pipes. City of Vancouver and Salmon-Safe BC invite you to learn about useful, strategic green infrastructures that encourage nature’s return to the city. This interactive pop up station illustrates how we can manage rain in a way that provides salmon habitat, improves water quality, and celebrates water within our urban centres.

Spring Break at the Space Centre
Where: HR Macmillan Space Centre
What: Do you have a young space enthusiast in the family? Join us over Spring Break for some special activities and programming focused on exploring the sun and exploring the moon. 
Runs until: Sunday March 31, 2019

Birds of Passage
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: From the team that made Embrace of the Serpent, this Colombian crime drama completely reinvents the gangster film. Going back to the roots of the cocaine trade in 1968, when indigenous farmers started cultivating marijuana for eager backpackers, the movie spans 12 years and traces the incredible influx of money – and violence – as demand for harder drugs takes off. 
Runs until: Thursday March 21, 2019

Hieronymus Bosch: The Garden of Earthly Delights (show 2 of 2)
Where: Vancouver Playhouse
What: In honour of the 500th anniversary of the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, renowned Canadian choreographer Marie Chouinard creates a living canvas, embodying the seething, teeming fecundity of Bosch’s most infamous masterpiece. Ten dancers breathe life into Bosch’s writhing figures and tortured souls with movement and images as video projections draw the audience deeper into this surreal world.

Gavin Matts
Where: The Comedy Mix
What: A stand-up comedian, writer and actor originally from Vancouver BC who is now living in Los Angeles. In 2018, he was named a TBS Team Coco Comic to watch and showcased at the New York Comedy Festival, through the showcase Gavin booked a spot on Conan and is set to make his late night television debut.

Bryan Hatt
Where: Yuk Yuks
What: Bryan has filmed his own Comedy Now! for CTV, performed on CBC’s Halifax Comedy Fest, performed at Massey Hall with Harland Williams, opened up for Gilbert Gottfried, Big Jay Oakerson, and has done festivals like JFL42 & NXNE.

Tori Kelly Acoustic Sessions
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: Her single, Hiding Place, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart, earning more first-week streams than any gospel album in history. 

Vancouver Warriors vs. New England Black Wolves
Where: Rogers Arena
What: Join the Vancouver Warriors for pro-Lacrosse action against the New England Black Wolves.

Music Videos Live
Where: The Rio Theatre
What: The ultimate night of music videos from Vancouver’s brightest musicians – followed by live performance. Add dancers and DJs into the mix and it’s a retro dream come true.

St. Patrick’s Day Punk-Stravaganza (day 2 of 2)
Where: The Rickshaw
What: The Dreadnoughts host some of their favourite local punk/folk/Irish/gypsy/ska/metal bands over two nights before taking the stage themselves with their usual inebriated mayhem.

Canuck Country Rocks
Where: The Vogue
What: Several country musicians.

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Sunday March 17

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Shamrocks and Shenanigans
Where: The Improv Centre
What: What is Celtic TheatreSports you might ask? Think of a scene with dialogue made up of random Irish expressions, or a scene in which someone “acts the maggot” or turns out to be one of “the little people.” As in all VTS shows, the inspirations come from audience suggestions so you never know what the talented improvisers will create on the spot. What we do know is that it will be hilarious and leave you drunk with giddiness.

I Got Rhythm + Laura Crema Live
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: Film scholar Michael van den Bos presents an all-new clip show featuring examples from the Great American Songbook first introduced in the movies, plus samples of Broadway tunes that became iconic because of their silver screen interpretations. Michael will set-up each of the clips studded with such musical stars as Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and Fred Astaire, who introduced more popular standards than any other singer.

The Cat Empire
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: Feel-good, high-energy, smile-inducing roots pop.

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Ongoing

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Abstracted Exhibition
Where: Federation Gallery
What: Artwork that takes inspiration from the light abstractions contained in Impressionism all the way to the large-scale abstractions of Expressionists.
Runs until: Saturday March 16, 2019

Body Language: Reawakening Cultural Tattooing of the Northwest
Where: Bill Reid Gallery
What: Explore the rich history and artistry of Indigenous tattooing, piercing and personal adornment on the Northwest Coast. These five contemporary Indigenous artists are at the forefront of the revival of Indigenous tattooing in BC. They are reclaiming traditional techniques and traditional rights to be tattooed, and building awareness of the significance and protocols around the tattooing traditions.
Runs until: Sunday March 17, 2019

Growing Room Literary Festival
Where: Various locations
What: A feminist literary festival with over 30 panels and readings, writing workshops and two full days of manuscript consultations for literary folks both local and international. Authors in attendance include Ivan Coyote, Katherena Vermette, Eden Robinson, Heather O’Neill, Leanne Simpson, and Robyn Maynard.
Runs until: Sunday March 17, 2019

The Metamorphosis
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: This exhibition ties together provocative themes and ideas of change undertaken in more than forty remarkable contemporary works selected from the Gallery’s collection. With its title inspired by Franz Kafka’s 1915 novella, The Metamorphosis invokes a compelling human and creative desire to explore oneself and the world. Kafka’s literary classic follows the experience of a man who, upon waking up, finds himself transformed into a giant insect. This exhibition looks at Kafka’s themes by way of visual art that addresses physical, spiritual and cultural transformation.
Runs until: Sunday March 17, 2019

Reverberations
Where: Presentation House Theatre
What: Memories contain reverberations. In this site-specific performance piece, actor and sound designer, Brian Linds, explores memories through the sounds of a family’s history. Four performers and five rooms replay key moments in his life — a friend’s betrayal, a search for Jewish meaning, a simple task becoming difficult, a dying mother’s sudden lucidity in the late stages of Alzheimer’s, and a journey of love.
Runs until: Sunday March 17, 2019

A Curator’s View: Ian Thom Selects
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: A showcase of the span of the gallery’s rich permanent collection through an exhibition of nearly ninety works including paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures. Since the Gallery’s establishment in 1931, its permanent collection has become the most comprehensive resource for visual culture in British Columbia. Building on the collection’s historical and contemporary strengths, the Gallery continues to steward acquisitions through donation and purchase.
Runs until: Sunday March 17, 2019

VSO Presents: David Kadouch
Where: The Orpheum
What: Highly-decorated French pianist David Kadouch makes his VSO debut performing Beethoven’s dramatic, ferocious Piano Concerto No. 3, a work by a composer whose great creative genius is on full display. We also hear Beethoven’s very first symphony, a piece composed at the height of his powers, and giving every sign of the astonishing body of work yet to come.
Runs until: Sunday March 17, 2019

Midian Farm
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: From 1971 – 1977, Midian Farm was a back-to-the-land social experiment created by a community of urban baby boomers from Toronto. Part of the youth counterculture movement during a period of social and political re-imagining, its utopian vision married Christian beliefs with leftist sympathies. The participants had little-to-no experience in agriculture or farming, but they believed that with faith and love they could change the world. Midian Farm was just the starting point. Inevitably, things went awry, and after years of hardship and struggle, the collective collapsed in on itself.
Runs until: Tuesday March 19, 2019

Birds of Passage
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: From the team that made Embrace of the Serpent, this Colombian crime drama completely reinvents the gangster film. Going back to the roots of the cocaine trade in 1968, when indigenous farmers started cultivating marijuana for eager backpackers, the movie spans 12 years and traces the incredible influx of money – and violence – as demand for harder drugs takes off. 
Runs until: Thursday March 21, 2019

Jesus Freak
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: The Campbell family prides themselves on their West Coast open-mindedness; from pot to political resistance, nothing is off the table. But when their daughter Clara comes home and announces she’s become a Christian, their tolerance is put to the test.
Runs until: Saturday March 23, 2019

Marine Life
Where: Firehall Arts Centre
What: The story revolves around an environmental activist who falls in love with her opposite. Incorporating magic realism, humour and live music, Marine Life explores themes of environmentalism, creativity, mental illness and personal responsibility in a delicately dark romantic comedy, set against a backdrop of apocalyptic proportions.
Runs until: Saturday March 23, 2019

Gross Misconduct
Where: Gateway Theatre (Richmond, BC)
What: Now in his early fifties, Deke has been in Millhaven Prison without a cellmate for the past twenty years. He is surprised and annoyed when Corey, a twentysomething rich kid, joins him in his cell. Deke is convicted for killing his sister Abigail’s rapist, and “newbie” Corey is in prison for sexual assault.
Runs until: Saturday March 23, 2019

 

Anne Low: Chair for a Woman
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Low’s artistic research is typically rooted in a close looking at historical objects, materials and surfaces, especially those created immediately prior to the Industrial Revolution. She is concerned with the specific conditions under which such objects are produced and consumed—particularly by women—and the domestic spaces they defined.
Runs until: Sunday March 24, 2019

Aslan Gaisumov
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: This exhibition brings together two works never previously shown together and, in so doing, offers a new means through which to consider many of the concerns that have shaped the artist’s practice over the past eight years.
Runs until: Sunday March 24, 2019

Vancouver International Dance Festival
Where: Various locations
What: A diverse and dynamic roster of internationally celebrated artists and local favourites, presenting three weeks of endlessly enriching performances, workshops, and a host of dance activities
Runs until: Saturday March 30, 2019

Hot Brown Honey
Where: The York Theatre
What: Packing a punch of hip hop politics, the Honeys will make you laugh, cry, clap and shake what your mama gave you. This posse of phenomenal women make noise as they defiantly smash stereotypes and remix the system.
Runs until: Sunday March 30, 2019

Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: Showcasing for the first time in MOA’s history a presentation of all-women artists, this exhibition features the artworks of nine Aboriginal women, who are all celebrated artists from tiny remote communities across Australia’s deserts and tropical north. Encompassing a wide range of subjects from the natural to sublime and from minute organisms to vast celestial bodies, the exhibition invites visitors to explore the immutable tension between the universal and the specific, and discover the power of traditional Indigenous knowledge in an increasingly digital world.
Runs until: Sunday March 31, 2019

Spring Break at the Space Centre
Where: HR Macmillan Space Centre
What: Do you have a young space enthusiast in the family? Join us over Spring Break for some special activities and programming focused on exploring the sun and exploring the moon. 
Runs until: Sunday March 31, 2019

Redpatch
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Between 1914 and 1918, over four thousand Indigenous men volunteered to fight and die for Canada in WW1. Redpatch tells a part of this story through the eyes of a soldier from the Nuu-chah-nulth nation of Vancouver Island. From his childhood home to the battlefields of France, follow him as he endures the horrors of the Great War in a new play that uses dance, myth, and mask to tell both a universal and a personal tale.
Runs until: Sunday March 31, 2019

Elephant and Piggie’s “We Are In A Play!”
Where: Waterfront Theatre
What: Join best friends, Gerald and Piggie, on a day where anything is possible! Filled with beloved characters and lively songs, it’s the perfect adventure for young audiences .
Runs until: Sunday March 31, 2019

Fitness For All
Where: 1100 West Georgia Street
What: Chinese contemporary art collective Polit-Sheer-Form Office (PSFO) has produced a five-piece set of exercise equipment specially designed for the Vancouver public. The artists’ decree suggests that establishing a more collective self-awareness fosters inclusivity and collaboration within a community.
Runs until: Sunday March 31, 2019

In a Different Light
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: More than 110 historical Indigenous artworks and marks the return of many important works to British Columbia. These objects are amazing artistic achievements. Yet they also transcend the idea of ‘art’ or ‘artifact’. Through the voices of contemporary First Nations artists and community members, this exhibition reflects on the roles historical artworks have today. Featuring immersive storytelling and innovative design, it explores what we can learn from these works and how they relate to Indigenous peoples’ relationships to their lands.
Runs until: Spring 2019

Hastings Park Farmers Market
Where: Hastings Park
What: Find a weekly selection of locally grown fruit and veggies, farm fresh meat, eggs and dairy products, fresh baked sourdough bread and treats, craft beer, wine and spirits, artisanal prepared food, local crafts, hot coffee and food trucks.
Runs until: Sunday April 28, 2019 (Sundays)

French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850-1950
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Sixty paintings and sculptures from the Brooklyn Museum’s renowned European permanent and long-term loan collections. Identifying France as the artistic centre of international modernism from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, these works—which are diverse in subject matter, style and scale—were created by leading artists of the period, intended both for private collections and public display.
Runs until: Monday May 20, 2019

Affinities: Canadian Artists and France
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Looking at the significance that French art and culture has held for Canadian artists over the past 120 years, this exhibition of works from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Collection focuses on influences of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Surrealism on Canadian artists during the first half of the twentieth century.
Runs until: Monday May 20, 2019

Counternarratives: Paintings by Archibald Fairbairn
Where: Bill Reid Gallery
What: The watercolour paintings of Archibald Fairbairn (1888 – 1979) document the beauty of totem poles and communities during the early 20th century. This exhibition juxtaposes an idealistic painter’s postcolonial gaze with critical discourse from contemporary Indigenous voices.
Runs until: Sunday June 2, 2019

Displacement
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: This exhibition comprises internationally acclaimed Victoria-based artist Mowry Baden’s work from the late 1960s to the present. Baden is known for producing intricate, sometimes humorous sculptural works and installations that borrow from the fields of perceptual psychology, science and architecture, and often solicit the audience’s participation.
Runs until: Sunday June 9, 2019

Wild Things: The Power of Nature in Our Lives
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: This exhibition delves into the life stories of local animals and plants—how they relate to each other and how they connect people to nature in the city. Scenic design, videos, taxidermy, crowd-sourcing technologies, and the display of natural specimens breathe life into these tales of co-habitation. The immersive nature of the exhibition, including hands-on activities, encourages visitors to examine their relationship with nature, think about momentarily disconnecting from their devices, and find equilibrium with the natural world around them.
Runs until: July 2019

Making Waves: The Story and Legacy of Greenpeace
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: With humble beginnings in Vancouver, Greenpeace has grown into a large organization with offices in 40 countries. The NGO has protested numerous causes: whaling, deforestation, mining, genetic testing, and nuclear testing. Explore this exhibit that goes from their first voyage from Vancouver to Amchitka to protest Nuclear testing on an old fishing vessel to how cities, government, and industry today are developing new policies, technologies, and sustainable practices to ensure the preservation of our environment.
Runs until: Monday September 9, 2019

Shake Up: Preserving What We Value
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: The exhibition will bring to light the convergence of earthquake science and technology with the rich Indigenous knowledge and oral history of the living cultures represented in MOA’s Northwest Coast collection. Beyond scientific discoveries, knowledge of earthquakes and natural disasters has been passed down through generations throughout many cultures, including those of the Northwest Coast First Nations. Also as part of the exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to see the majestic poles of the Great Hall undergo conservation, many for the first time in 40 years.
Runs until: Fall 2019

How Far Do You Travel
Where: Select B-Line TransLink busses
What: Five Canadian artists — Diyan Achjadi, Patrick Cruz, Rolande Souliere, Erdem Tasdelen and Anna Torma — are being commissioned to graphically wrap the exterior of a series of articulated buses traveling on major routes in Metro Vancouver.
Runs until: Tuesday December 31, 2019

What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments.