It’s a weekend of dazzling displays of light, colour, fire and performance, and I don’t’ even mean Halloween. The Lumiere Festival is on all weekend with family-friendly outdoor activities after dark, there’s a burlesque festival, the Ballet is on, and this weekend marks the last nights of Diwali Fest.
Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing
Friday November 1
Photo by Clint Trahan
Where: Various Locations
What: Now in its sixth year, Lumière Vancouver returns to set the city’s downtown and West End neighbourhoods aglow in spectacular fashion. An annual, family-friendly event inspired by light and artistic expression, Lumière Vancouver includes more than 25 interactive art installations that add dazzle and wonder to four beloved sites: English Bay, Jim Deva Plaza, Lot 19, and šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square (formerly known as the North Plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery).
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: Program 1 invites you to surrender to the sublime experience of living. We launch the season with works by two acclaimed dance makers. Aszure Barton opens the evening with the Canadian premiere of BUSK, showcasing her versatile and poignant choreography. Probing and liberating, Johan Inger’s B.R.I.S.A. returns to delight Vancouver audiences.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
DanceSport BC presents SnowBall Classic 2019
Where: Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel
What: DanceSport BC is proud to announce our 2019 SnowBall Classic. This year it will be held from November 1 to 2, 2019 and we would like to invite you to join us in celebrating our 31st year running the most exclusive dance competition event in Vancouver BC. Come and celebrate the artistry and athleticism of dancesport and a fresh, engaging experience with our community.
Heart of the City Festival 2019
Where: Various Venues on the Downtown Eastside
What: Announcing the 16th annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival and twelve days of music, stories, theatre, poetry, cultural celebrations, films, dance, readings, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, mixed media, art talks, history talks and history walks. This year’s theme Holding the Light has emerged from the compelling need of DTES-involved artists and residents to illuminate the vitality and relevance of the Downtown Eastside community and its diverse and rich traditions, knowledge systems, ancestral languages, cultural roots and stories.
Runs Until: Sunday November 10, 2019
Where: Presentation House Theatre
What: Take a hair-raising turn through our hidden halls. Step over, creep under, hold on tight as actors and artists emerge from secret corners. Are they human, or . . . ? It’s an eerie series of scares. New theatre companies fill every nook and cranny of the building with innovative creepiness. Can you find them all? Some say we’re haunted. Come see for yourself . . . We dare you.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Sustainable Production Forum 2019
Where: Emily Carr University and the Centre for Digital Media
What: Interested in film and television? Passionate about the environment? Join us at the 4th annual Sustainable Production Forum to network with producers, directors, cast, crew, and some of the biggest names in motion picture, including HBO, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, and Disney! The Sustainable Production Forum focuses on the important subject of environmental sustainability within the motion picture industry. The event consists of two days of talks, panels, workshops and networking with leading experts and industry leaders.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Where: Orpheum Theatre
What: “The most famous Hollywood movie of all time” gets the orchestral treatment with the VSO performing Max Steiner’s fantastic score live while the movie plays on the big screen above. Watch Bogart and Bergman in their tragic love tale deliver some of the most iconic movie quotes of all time.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Kavli Lecture – A Universe of Surprises
Where: H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
What: Join us as we livestream “A Universe of Surprises”, a free lecture and visual presentation by Dr. Laura Trouille and Dr. Chris Lintott. We will be livestreaming the presentation from the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and will be one of 30 planetariums around the world taking part.
The Fifth Annual Vancouver Burlesque Marathong
Where: The Rio Theatre
What: Vancouver’s biggest and most varied night of burlesque is back! 25 of the best and newest acts in town – featuring a diverse cast of performers from across the burlesque scene in Vancouver – hit the Rio’s stage as part of a fantastic showcase. It’s one of the hotbeds of burlesque! Come cheer as they perform for the camera to apply for festivals and competitions around the world.
Homer St Café
Campari Presents Dante NYC at Homer St Café and Bar Take-Over
Where: Homer St Café and Bar
What: The NYC-meets-YVR take-over, titled Campari Presents Dante NYC at Homer St. Café and Bar, will be open to the public November 1–5, from 6–10 pm. This special collaborative engagement will feature a seasonal menu of Dante NYC-inspired specialties paired with aperitivo-style drinks such as the world’s fastest-growing cocktail, the Aperol Spritz, and the Classic Negroni to be served from a fountain creating a veritable waterfall.
Runs Until: Tuesday November 5, 2019
Axe-Stravaganza Halloween Party
Where: Academie Duello
What: Join Academie Duello for an epic medieval halloween party. Dress up, weild swords, throw axes, dance & Drink! Key attractions for the night: cleave a zombie’s head with a sword, join an Axe Throwing tournament, win prizes, dance, drink, and socialize, photobooth, and psychic readings.
Public Disco presents: Lumiere Block Party
Where: Bute & Davie St.
What: Public Disco is bringing you a licensed 3-day block party in the Davie Village! Presented in partnership with Lumiere Vancouver & the West End BIA! Enjoy DJs, drag shows, dance performances, visual art and a licensed bar under a massive 80 ft tent!
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
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Pop-Up Roller Rink – Halloween Skate Party
Where: The Shipyards District
What: Ghouls, goblins, ghosts and witches will all be grooving on eight wheels on Friday, November 1st, and the gorgeous new 12,000 square foot outdoor public skating rink at The Shipyards in North Vancouver will be the perfect backdrop for this fun, family-friendly party.
Saturday November 2
Where: UBC Old Auditorium
What: Offenbach’s crowning achievement Les Contes d’Hoffmann was completed and premiered posthumously following the composer’s death in 1881, but the vibrant opera fantastique brings life to the audience and composer alike with its mythical plot and dazzling music. The opera draws from three stories by the eponymous poet E.T.A. Hoffmann, telling a tale of multifaceted love and artistry.
Runs Until: Saturday November 9, 2019
BC Lions vs. Edmonton
BC Lions vs Calgary Stampeders
Where: BC Place
What: Don’t miss the roaring atmosphere at this Canadian Football League game. Cheer on the BC Lions as they take on western rivals the Calgary Stampeders.
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: Canadian indie rock band is coming to the Commodore! Growing up in the shadow of the nation’s Capital in a small town called Manotick, kids had to hatch their own fun. For brothers Jake (drums) and Nixon Boyd (lead guitar), Menno Versteeg (guitar, lead vocals) and Dean Baxter (bass), their dream of trading songs for adventures as Hollerado would turn into more than a decade of packed venues, radio hits and world travels.
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: Explore, celebrate, and experience the potential of a circular economy with Why I Design 2019! Why I Design spotlights the process of invention and immersion. This year’s Why I Design pays particular attention to the emerging forces behind the Circular Economy, which include elements of wholeness, inclusion, knowledge, connection, and community in addition to reconciliation and decolonization as a regional factor.
for KING & COUNTRY – Burn the Ships Tour
Where: Abbotsford Centre
What: Two-time GRAMMY award-winning duo for KING & COUNTRY will bring their acclaimed live show to audiences around the world with the announcement of their Burn The Ships World Tour 2019 where they’ll perform music from their third studio album, burn the ships.
Flamenco Legends: The Paco de Lucía Project
Where: The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
What: World-renowned Spanish guitarist and flamenco’s most influential artist—the late Paco de Lucía—released his first solo album just over 50 years ago. As testament to his enduring musical legacy, the members of de Lucía’s acclaimed late-career sextet, alongside producer and composer Javier Limón, come together to pay tribute to his music and keep the torch lit for future generations.
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: Program 1 invites you to surrender to the sublime experience of living. We launch the season with works by two acclaimed dance makers. Aszure Barton opens the evening with the Canadian premiere of BUSK, showcasing her versatile and poignant choreography. Probing and liberating, Johan Inger’s B.R.I.S.A. returns to delight Vancouver audiences.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Where: Presentation House Theatre
What: Take a hair-raising turn through our hidden halls. Step over, creep under, hold on tight as actors and artists emerge from secret corners. Are they human, or . . . ? It’s an eerie series of scares. New theatre companies fill every nook and cranny of the building with innovative creepiness. Can you find them all? Some say we’re haunted. Come see for yourself . . . We dare you.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Sustainable Production Forum 2019
Where: Emily Carr University and the Centre for Digital Media
What: Interested in film and television? Passionate about the environment? Join us at the 4th annual Sustainable Production Forum to network with producers, directors, cast, crew, and some of the biggest names in motion picture, including HBO, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, and Disney! The Sustainable Production Forum focuses on the important subject of environmental sustainability within the motion picture industry. The event consists of two days of talks, panels, workshops and networking with leading experts and industry leaders.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Where: Orpheum Theatre
What: “The most famous Hollywood movie of all time” gets the orchestral treatment with the VSO performing Max Steiner’s fantastic score live while the movie plays on the big screen above. Watch Bogart and Bergman in their tragic love tale deliver some of the most iconic movie quotes of all time.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Vancouver TheatreSports
Spooktober: Cult Fiction – Everyone Laugh Together
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Cult Fiction – Everyone Laugh Together is framed as a documentary. Hosted by an investigative journalist; the players utilize audience suggestions to spin a spell-binding tale behind the cult including the core cult belief and some of its unique traits – the more ridiculous the suggestions, the more inventive the action and louder the laughter.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Pacific Theatre presents Frankenstein: Lost In Darkness
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: Captain Robert Walton has a nightmarish tale to tell – the story of young Victor Frankenstein and his quest to create life. Mary Shelly’s haunting fable of hubris and loss is re-interpreted as an immersive audio drama for the Pacific theatre stage.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Arts Club Theatre Company presents Bed & Breakfast
Where: Granville Island Stage
What: When Brett inherits a family estate, he and his partner, Drew, move to a quiet little tourist town to set up a B&B. But will these big city boys face friction in their new community? With dozens of hilarious characters all portrayed by two actors, it’s a heartfelt comedy about “being out,” skeletons in the closet, and finding a place to call home
Runs Until: Sunday November 2, 2019
Where: Potter’s Farm & Nursery
What: Every fall, Potter’s Farm & Nursery staff converts the grounds from an enjoyable, plant-filled garden centre into a maze of terror, with all the latest animatronics, digital sounds, high-tech scares and trained actors to put on a fun and scary event that sends chills down the spine of all those who enter
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Maan Farms Haunted Corn Maze and Pitch Black
Where: Maan Farms, Abbotsford
What: Maan Farms Haunted Corn Maze, features nightmarish installations, shocking and gory scenes as well as intimate scares. Creating a surreal world in which guests may find themselves unsure of where reality ends and the show begins. Pitch Black is an interactive multi-sensory separate ticketed attraction where the actors can touch you! Touching is NOT full contact, but you may be grabbed, held back, sent into hidden passageways, and even temporarily removed from your group.
Runs until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Sunday November 3
Where: Orpheum Theatre
What: The future of Earth Music hangs in the balance! Two aliens have descended on the concert hall with their own ideas—and inventions — for influencing “Earth Music.” The resulting program brings important musical concepts to life in a sci-fi thriller featuring an outstanding program of North American composers and music.
Photo by Clint Trahan
Where: Various Locations
What: Now in its sixth year, Lumière Vancouver returns to set the city’s downtown and West End neighbourhoods aglow in spectacular fashion. An annual, family-friendly event inspired by light and artistic expression, Lumière Vancouver includes more than 25 interactive art installations that add dazzle and wonder to four beloved sites: English Bay, Jim Deva Plaza, Lot 19, and šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square (formerly known as the North Plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery).
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Public Disco presents: Lumiere Block Party
Where: Bute & Davie St.
What: Public Disco is bringing you a licensed 3-day block party in the Davie Village! Presented in partnership with Lumiere Vancouver & the West End BIA! Enjoy DJs, drag shows, dance performances, visual art and a licensed bar under a massive 80 ft tent!
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Where: Fort Langley National Historic Site of Canada
What: Fort Langley’s talented storytellers spin tales of love, mysterious burials, and hair-raising amputations during Fort Langley National Historic Site’s annual Grave Tales Historic Walking Tours. Grave Tales is a historic walking tour through the village of Fort Langley, ending inside the historic Big House in the national historic site. Heritage interpreters tell tales of misfortune in Fort Langley’s cemeteries, streets, and inside the Hudson’s Bay Company fort.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: without a word presents a selection of portrait photographs from the private collection of Bill Wu, the first display of this remarkable, yet unknown, Vancouver collection of photography. Representing an international cross-section of acclaimed twentieth-century artists including Berenice Abbott, Robert Doisneau, Walker Evans, Graciela Iturbide, and Mary Ellen Mark, the exhibition includes some of modern photography’s most iconic and memorable portraits, with a specific focus on people caught in unguarded moments of contemplation and preoccupation.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Arts Club Theatre Company presents Cost Of Living
Where: Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre
What: What does it mean to give care? A shave, a helping hand, and forgiveness in the face of faults. This 2018 Pulitzer Prize–winning play about relationships and living with physical disabilities is tucked with surprise humour. A wealthy student is cared for by a young woman down on her luck, and a man rebuilds an old bond by providing aid to his ex-wife. These achingly human stories delve into the social divides between people, even as they strive to help.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Where: Various locations in Vancouver and Surrey
What: At the core of Diwali Fest’s mandate is the objective of breaking cultural barriers and encouraging participation from all communities. The celebration and spirit of Diwali is truly universal. The message it engenders of promoting inclusiveness motivates us to bring the festival to the Lower Mainland, as well as bringing the Lower Mainland to our festival. This can be demonstrated through the number of fusion acts, as well as artists we highlight through our programming.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Ongoing
Vancouver TheatreSports
Spooktober: Cult Fiction – Everyone Laugh Together
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Cult Fiction – Everyone Laugh Together is framed as a documentary. Hosted by an investigative journalist; the players utilize audience suggestions to spin a spell-binding tale behind the cult including the core cult belief and some of its unique traits – the more ridiculous the suggestions, the more inventive the action and louder the laughter.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Pacific Theatre presents Frankenstein: Lost In Darkness
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: Captain Robert Walton has a nightmarish tale to tell – the story of young Victor Frankenstein and his quest to create life. Mary Shelly’s haunting fable of hubris and loss is re-interpreted as an immersive audio drama for the Pacific theatre stage.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Arts Club Theatre Company presents Bed & Breakfast
Where: Granville Island Stage
What: When Brett inherits a family estate, he and his partner, Drew, move to a quiet little tourist town to set up a B&B. But will these big city boys face friction in their new community? With dozens of hilarious characters all portrayed by two actors, it’s a heartfelt comedy about “being out,” skeletons in the closet, and finding a place to call home
Runs Until: Sunday November 2, 2019
Where: Potter’s Farm & Nursery
What: Every fall, Potter’s Farm & Nursery staff converts the grounds from an enjoyable, plant-filled garden centre into a maze of terror, with all the latest animatronics, digital sounds, high-tech scares and trained actors to put on a fun and scary event that sends chills down the spine of all those who enter
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Maan Farms Haunted Corn Maze and Pitch Black
Where: Maan Farms, Abbotsford
What: Maan Farms Haunted Corn Maze, features nightmarish installations, shocking and gory scenes as well as intimate scares. Creating a surreal world in which guests may find themselves unsure of where reality ends and the show begins. Pitch Black is an interactive multi-sensory separate ticketed attraction where the actors can touch you! Touching is NOT full contact, but you may be grabbed, held back, sent into hidden passageways, and even temporarily removed from your group.
Runs until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Where: Fort Langley National Historic Site of Canada
What: Fort Langley’s talented storytellers spin tales of love, mysterious burials, and hair-raising amputations during Fort Langley National Historic Site’s annual Grave Tales Historic Walking Tours. Grave Tales is a historic walking tour through the village of Fort Langley, ending inside the historic Big House in the national historic site. Heritage interpreters tell tales of misfortune in Fort Langley’s cemeteries, streets, and inside the Hudson’s Bay Company fort.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: without a word presents a selection of portrait photographs from the private collection of Bill Wu, the first display of this remarkable, yet unknown, Vancouver collection of photography. Representing an international cross-section of acclaimed twentieth-century artists including Berenice Abbott, Robert Doisneau, Walker Evans, Graciela Iturbide, and Mary Ellen Mark, the exhibition includes some of modern photography’s most iconic and memorable portraits, with a specific focus on people caught in unguarded moments of contemplation and preoccupation.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Arts Club Theatre Company presents Cost Of Living
Where: Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre
What: What does it mean to give care? A shave, a helping hand, and forgiveness in the face of faults. This 2018 Pulitzer Prize–winning play about relationships and living with physical disabilities is tucked with surprise humour. A wealthy student is cared for by a young woman down on her luck, and a man rebuilds an old bond by providing aid to his ex-wife. These achingly human stories delve into the social divides between people, even as they strive to help.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Where: Various locations in Vancouver and Surrey
What: At the core of Diwali Fest’s mandate is the objective of breaking cultural barriers and encouraging participation from all communities. The celebration and spirit of Diwali is truly universal. The message it engenders of promoting inclusiveness motivates us to bring the festival to the Lower Mainland, as well as bringing the Lower Mainland to our festival. This can be demonstrated through the number of fusion acts, as well as artists we highlight through our programming.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Homer St Café
Campari Presents Dante NYC at Homer St Café and Bar Take-Over
Where: Homer St Café and Bar
What: The NYC-meets-YVR take-over, titled Campari Presents Dante NYC at Homer St. Café and Bar, will be open to the public November 1–5, from 6–10 pm. This special collaborative engagement will feature a seasonal menu of Dante NYC-inspired specialties paired with aperitivo-style drinks such as the world’s fastest-growing cocktail, the Aperol Spritz, and the Classic Negroni to be served from a fountain creating a veritable waterfall.
Runs Until: Tuesday November 5, 2019
Heart of the City Festival 2019
Where: Various Venues on the Downtown Eastside
What: Announcing the 16th annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival and twelve days of music, stories, theatre, poetry, cultural celebrations, films, dance, readings, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, mixed media, art talks, history talks and history walks. This year’s theme Holding the Light has emerged from the compelling need of DTES-involved artists and residents to illuminate the vitality and relevance of the Downtown Eastside community and its diverse and rich traditions, knowledge systems, ancestral languages, cultural roots and stories.
Runs Until: Sunday November 10, 2019
The 9th Dancers: Kelly Shaw, Ryan Lee, Connor Mitton | Photo Credit: Aleksandar Antonijevic
Where: Various Venues
What: Now in its 19th year of celebrating culturally rich works in comedy, music, theatre and dance, the Chutzpah! Festival has established a reputation for presenting Vancouver audiences with new and exciting, critically acclaimed artists from all over the world. This year’s festival will also showcase live music with film, and shines a light on artists from the U.K., Israel, Italy, U.S.A., and Canada.
Runs Until: Sunday November 24, 2019
Forbidden Vancouver presents Lost Souls of Gastown
Where: Cathedral Square
What: Step inside a world of murder, revenge, and true grit in a dramatic history of Victorian Gastown. Stories of deadly fire and smallpox emerge from the shadows as you venture through cobblestone streets to the shocking finale in this unique performance-theatre experience.
Runs Until: Saturday November 30, 2019
The Dark Secrets of Stanley Park
Where: Stanley Park
What: There’s more to Stanley Park than incredible scenery. It’s also recently been home to crime, riots, persecution, political intrigue, class warfare, logging, hunting, disease, military installations, remarkable public art, ecological catastrophes, secret construction mega-projects, poetry, scandal, and murder.
Runs until: Saturday November 30, 2019 (Saturdays)
Mollie Burke: Unfolded
Opening Reception for New Exhibitions from Kate Metten, Ryan Quast and Mollie Burke
Where: Burrard Arts Foundation Gallery
What: On Friday, October 18, three new art exhibitions will open at Burrard Arts Foundation (BAF), a local visual arts nonprofit and gallery. Two of the shows were produced by the latest participants in BAF’s Residency Program, Kate Metten and Ryan Quast. During the program, the two artists worked side-by-side in the two studios at BAF’s purpose-designed facility in the False Creek Flats. Also opening is new work from Mollie Burke in BAF’s Garage; this street facing exhibition window displays art to the public 24 hours a day and showcases early-career artists.
Runs Until: Saturday December 14, 2019
Where: Central Library
What: pîkiskwe-speak is both an art and film installation, and an invitation to have conversations about reconciliation. Features the works of Beth MacKenzie and Lana Whiskeyjack. The exhibition runs during Library hours in the Samuel and Frances Belzberg Family Exhibition Space on Level 9.
Runs Until: Sunday December 15, 2019
Where: Concord Pacific Place
What: Cirque du Soleil’s delightfully-imaginative and visually-stunning production Luzia is coming to Vancouver. Audiences are invited to a redesigned white-and-gold Big Top at Concord Pacific Place to escape to an imaginary Mexico – a sumptuous world suspended somewhere between dreams and reality.
Runs Until: Sunday December 29, 2019
Image sourced from Jazz Vespers | Facebook.com
Where: First Baptist Church
What: St. Andrew’s Wesley’s Jazz Vespers, is celebrating its 26th Anniversary. Every Sunday from 4-5 PM, you’ll be tapping your toes and clapping your hands to the amazing sounds of local and international jazz giants. It’s an hour of jazz interspersed with reflections on love, faith and hope given by Rev. Dan Chambers or Very Rev. Dr. Gary Paterson.
Runs Until: Sunday December 29, 2019
Samuel Roy-Bois
Samuel Roy-Bois: Reward Friends, Punish Enemies
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: Reward Friends, Punish Enemies is a site-responsive installation – imagined as an intervention into the architectural space of The Polygon—that invokes histories of resource extraction and the forest industry on the North Shore. Roy-Bois’ rustic, handcrafted aesthetic rubs against the steel-and-glass design of the gallery and the surrounding waterfront developments, upending distinctions between interior and exterior, private and public.
Runs Until: December 30, 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
Emily Carr | Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The Vancouver Art Gallery is home to the finest collection of art by Emily Carr (1871–1945) in the world. Our collection is particularly rich in her forest paintings from the 1930s. This installation in the Gallery’s rotunda reflects Carr’s direct engagement with and great affection for British Columbia’s landscape—for her, a site of artistic and spiritual inquiry. This installation brings together four of Carr’s iconic paintings: Big Raven (1931); Red Cedar (1931); Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky (1935); and Above the Gravel Pit (1937).
Runs Until: Tuesday December 31, 2019
Where: Vancouver International Film Centre
What: Year-round VIFF presents some of the world’s best cinema fused with related talks and events in a unique Films+ model.
Runs Until: Tuesday December 31, 2019
Olivia Whetung – Sugarbush Shrapnel
CAG Presents Olivia Whetung | Sugarbush Shrapnel
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: The Contemporary Art Gallery will present the first solo exhibition in a major public institution of Chemong Lake based Anishinaabe artist Olivia Whetung. Whetung’s artistic practice examines, in her words, “acts of/active native presence.” A significant strand of recent research has manifested in beadwork, and explores Whetung’s deep concerns for knowledge as held and carried by land, bodies of water and language.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Sreshta Rit Premnath – Those Who Wait
CAG Presents Sreshta Rit Premnath | Those Who Wait
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: For his first solo exhibition in Canada, Sreshta Rit Premnath will develop new work in an ongoing series of material and conceptual investigations on the “knot” between ownership and occupation of space, and the conditions of invisibility and misrecognition that define migrant subjectivity. Premnath works across multiple media including sculpture, video, photography and drawing.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Wael Shawky: Al Araba Al Madfuna
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: This exhibition brings the extraordinary and timely art of Wael Shawky to the west coast for the first time. Shawky’s ambitious, multilayered film productions look at the ways in which history and mythologies are recorded, highlighting the fallibility of cultural memory, while offering critical perspectives on our current narratives of uncertainty and change.
Runs Until: Sunday January 12, 2020
Lessons from the Arctic: How Roald Amundsen won the race to the South Pole
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: Lessons from the Arctic celebrates Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, the first person in history to both traverse the Northwest Passage (1903-06) and reach the South Pole (1910-12), paying special attention to the three years that he spent living with the Inuit.
Runs Until: Sunday January 19, 2019
Where: Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coastal Art
What: A solo exhibition of carvings, jewelry, and portraits by contemporary Ts’msyen artist Morgan Asoyuf. Asoyuf challenges the classical definition of the “royal portrait” with new photographs of activists wearing crowns, frontlets and headdresses.
Runs Until: January 19, 2020
Vancouver Art gallery presents Transit and Returns
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Transits and Returns presents the work of 21 Indigenous artists whose practices are both rooted in the specificities of their cultures and routed via their travels. These forces of situatedness and mobility work in synergy and in tension with one another, shaping the multiple ways of understanding and being Indigenous today. Within the exhibition, these dual realities are explored through themes of movement, territory, kinship and representation, with many artworks inhabiting multiple categories.
Runs Until: Sunday February 23, 2020
Where: 1100 West Georgia Street
What: Vienna-based artist Erwin Wurm alters and re-envisions recognizable forms in order to challenge our psychological perceptions of what is well known, including our bodies and familiar architectural forms. This 19th installation in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Offsite series will incorporate three sculptural works from Wurm’s oeuvre that highlight his wry sense of humour and his ongoing interest in the body. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, local artist Mike Bourscheid will develop a series of performative interventions.
Runs Until: Sunday February 23, 2020
Being Punjabi: Unfolding the Surrey Story
Where: Museum of Surrey
What: The first major exhibition in Canada to shine a spotlight on Surrey’s Punjabis, showcasing their stories of struggle and success. The exhibition is intended to be a catalyst for discussion and sharing, while also documenting histories of this diverse community.
Runs until: February 23, 2020
Where: Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre
What: Ambassadors, the first exhibition of its kind at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, celebrates the staff family and faces of the Cultural Centre while highlighting their strong sense of connection to their land, their cultures, and each other. Visitors to the exhibit will learn about our Ambassadors’ deeply-rooted connections to our immersive Cultural Centre, and the passion they share in belonging to Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Lil’wat7ul.
Runs Until: Sunday March 1, 2019
Vancouver Art gallery presents Cindy Sherman
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: This major exhibition explores the development of Cindy Sherman’s work from the beginning of her career in the mid-1970s to the present day. Widely regarded as one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, Sherman (b. 1954) manipulates her own appearance by deploying material inspired by a range of cultural sources, including film, advertising, and fashion.
Runs Until: Sunday March 8, 2020
Xuuya Gaada White Raven by Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson
Bill Reid Gallery: Out of Concealment
Where: Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art
What: Out of Concealment is a solo exhibition featuring the work of Haida artist, performer, activist, and lawyer Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson. Female Supernatural Beings of Haida Gwaii are re-imagined through photomontages, film, and sound to convey origin stories and oral traditions from the Haida Nation. Passed on from generation to generation, these are important narratives that illustrate the Haida laws, values, customs, rituals and relationships with earthly and metaphysical realms.
Runs Until: Sunday April 5, 2020
Ingrid Koenig – Navigating the Uncertainty Principle
CAG Presents Ingrid Koenig | Navigating the Uncertainty Principle
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Navigating the Uncertainty Principle is a major solo exhibition by Vancouver-based artist and educator Ingrid Koenig, presenting large scale drawings across the gallery façade and off-site at Yaletown-Roundhouse station.
Runs Until: Sunday April 5, 2020
Teatro Intimo Del Flamenco
Where: The Improv Centre, Granville Island
What: Karen Flamenco brings the glamour and extravagance of a large flamenco dance production onto a small theatrical stage. The one-hour production welcomes audiences of all ages with live traditional flamenco music, dance, storylines, puppetry and magic. With theatre style seating and bistro-style table seats, every audience member will get a close-up and personal experience that is very typical of a traditional Spanish Tablao.
Runs until: Saturday May 1, 2020
What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments.
