This exhibition features work by award-winning contemporary artists from Vancouver, Canada in Torino during the Winter Olympics of 2006. The cities are linked as Winter Olympic cities: Torino in 2006 and Vancouver in 2010. Both cities also have incredibly vibrant and flourishing artists creating challenging work on an unparalleled scale.
Ciao da Vancouver provides an exciting opportunity to exhibit contemporary Canadian alternative works in the high-profile international setting offered by the Winter Olympics. The Velan Centre in Torino is in the heart of the city. It has attracted much local and national media due to its curatorial profile.
The works on exhibit feature the people of Vancouver, its buildings, lifestyle and culture. They are accessible and linked by the commonality of their everyday subject matter: judging a local beauty pageant, observing a cultural connection between two cities, the cult of American-style wrestling, secretly spying on neighbours, or celebrating the tiny moments in normal life. There is something for every viewer here.
The exhibition belies the stereotypical images of Vancouver being presented by the official Vancouver 2010 Olympic Committee. These works represent a more realistic and diverse view of Vancouver than that seen in “Beautiful BC Magazine”.
The primary mediums are photography and video. These formats are universally understood and excellent conveyers across cultures. Three of the artists, Jamie Dolinko, Brian Howell and Sharyn A. Yuen exhibit photoworks. Paul Wong and Henry Tsang are exhibiting video and installation.
All of the artists live in Vancouver and have extensive international reputations. They are also artists whose works reflect the cultural diversity of Vancouver that might be of interest to a Torino audience. Vancouver’s cultural diversity was one of the reasons that the city was awarded the Games.
This exhibition is a co-production with the Velan Centre for Contemporary Art, Torino directed by Vezio Tomasinelli, and Nuova Icona, Venezia, directed by Vittorio Urbani.
Urbani has come to Vancouver on a couple of curatorial visits so he is familiar with the cultural context in Vancouver. Urbani introduced us to our Torino host. Tomasinelli visited Vancouver in April 2005 as our guest. (An ironic aside to this co-presentation is that both Urbani and Tomasinelli are medical doctors who also run contemporary galleries. They had known of each other before but had never met. This exhibition, created in Vancouver, has caused them to meet and work together on a project for the first time).
There will be a curatorial talk and web presentation in Venice following the Torino opening.
Elspeth Sage
Curator
Vancouver, Canada
February 2006
Schedule of events.
