Surrey Art Gallery spotlights Expo 86 with In the Shadow of the Pavilions, April 18 to June 7
Multidisciplinary exhibition features archival works by 40 artists created in the Lower Mainland from 1984 to 1988
SPONSORED POST BY Surrey Art Gallery
Michael de Courcy’s One in a Million, 1986, archival pigment print.
Surrey Art Gallery is hosting In the Shadow of the Pavilions: Expo 86 and Contemporary Art from April 18 to June 7.
Across numerous pavilions, multiple outdoor plazas, and within various museums and public galleries around the Lower Mainland, Expo 86 brought together a wide variety of artists and artworks from across Canada and around the world. At the same time, Vancouver’s world’s fair and the concurrent Vancouver’s Centennial celebrations attracted a wide range of parallel art initiatives. On Expo’s 40th anniversary, this exhibition highlights some of the extraordinary art from around British Columbia’s Lower Mainland during Canada’s second world’s fair.
With close to 22 million visitors, Expo 86 was one of the largest public events in Canadian history. Between May 2 and October 13, 1986, Expo brought together an unprecedented number of artists from a wide spectrum of disciplines and media. Yet in comparison with Canada’s other major world’s fair, Expo 67, there has never been an exhibition that has closely examined Expo 86 through its art.
Lorraine Gilbert’s Heidi and Big Science, 1985, Ektacolor C-print. Collection of Surrey Art Gallery SAG1986.02.01
In the Shadow of the Pavilions was curated by Jordan Strom, Surrey Art Gallery’s curator of collections and exhibitions.
“Expo 86, and the period of art production that it existed within, was an incredibly dynamic time of art in the Metro Vancouver region, province of British Columbia, and Canada more broadly,” shared Strom in a release. “Often overlooked in favour of Expo 67, Vancouver’s world’s fair brought together hundreds of artists from across the country and around the world. It also shaped a dynamic response and cultural flourishing from artists and curators around its edges. This exhibition seeks to bring these different currents and voices together.”
Through original artworks and archival materials, In the Shadow of the Pavilions: Expo 86 and Contemporary Art examines some of the official art from the world’s fair, along with unofficial art and programming that coincided with this transformational event. With over 40 artists included in the exhibition, there will be works of photography, painting, installation art, performance art, and video reflecting on themes of communication, transportation, urban development, Indigenous self-determination, and futurity from the years of 1984 to 1988. The first of its kind, the exhibition will provide an opportunity to re-evaluate the significance of art from Expo 86 and the larger context in which it took place.
Tim Jocelyn’s New Dimensions Astrolabe, 1986, multimedia kinetic sculpture. Photo by Robert Kaziere
In the Shadow of the Pavilions features artworks and documentation created between 1984 and 1988, by artists Kim Adams, Patrick Amiot, Ruth Beer, Randy & Berenicci, Randy Bradley, Marcus Bowcott, Nick Brdar, Hank Bull, Rebecca Burke, Wendy Christiansen, Stephen Denslow, Margaret Dragu, Kate Craig, Robert Davidson, Beau Dick, Simon Dick, Christos Dikeakos, Michael de Courcy, Stan Douglas, Rick Etkin, Lorraine Gilbert, Rodney Graham, Arni Haraldsson, Tony Ianzelo, Tim Jocelyn, Jeannie Kamins, Robert Keziere, Terry Larkin, Colin Low, Eric Metcalfe, Musqueam Weavers, Oraf, Art Perry, Edward Poitras, Richard Prince, Charles Rae, Bill Reid, Henri Robideau, SITE, Geoffrey Smedley, Michael Snow, Debra Sparrow, Alan Storey, Richard Tetrault, Colette Urban, Elizabeth Vander Zaag, John Watt, Hildegard Westerkamp, Anna Wong, Paul Wong, Alex Wyse, and Xwalacktun.
Admission to all Surrey Art Gallery events is free. More details are available here.
Post sponsored by Surrey Art Gallery.
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