Events Archive 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003      
 

 

FALL AUCTION
Saturday, November 10, 2007
7:30-10:30 pm


The Helen Pitt Gallery is excited to announce our upcoming auction
fundraiser. This one-night-only silent auction and reception features
work in numerous mediums with a range of minimum bid prices. This
auction is specially designed to meet your art collecting addiction
and holiday present acquisition needs.


The funds raised by this auction will help support our operations over
the coming year.

Works by:

Diyan Achjadi
Gaile Addison
Stephanie Aitken
Derek Brunen
Aaron Carpenter
Fabiola Carranza
All Citizens
Michael Drebert
Todd A. Davis
Joey Dubuc
Mark Dudiak
Geoffrey Farmer
Angus Ferguson
Devon Gifford
Curtis Grahauer
Jeremy Hof
MegHubert
Steve Hubert
Dawn Johnston
Vishal Jugdeo
Paul Kajander
Didi Lin
Anne Low
Charlotte Matthews
Philip McCrum
Tegan Moore
Monique Mouton
Heidi Nagtegaal
Sue Nagy
Gailan Ngan
Emilie O'Brien
Isabelle Pauwels
Bill Pechet
Alex Pensato
Laura Piasta
Marina Roy
Jeremy Todd
Kara Uzelman
Sydney Vermont

The Pitt would like to thank all the talented and generous artists for
their donations, and all of you who support us. Hope to see you there.

 

 

 

     

 

Igor Santizo
Pivot / Horizon
Presented as part of LIVE: the Performance Art Biennial

Wednesday, October 17th at 7:00 pm, and on into November 2007.

Pivot / Horizon is a two-part project that investigates stillness, quietness, uneventfulness and meditation as an artistic strategy, performative gesture and aesthetic possibility. This project, launched in the context of the LIVE Biennial, locates points of inversion and entropy between performer and audience, event and non-event, as a means of exploring notions of consciousness and perception.

The first component of this project involves a short soundwalk around Gastown and the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver—a silent group-walk undertaken as a means of discovering “a location’s ambiance and underlying rhythms… the complex orchestration that the environment is composing at all times.” Inspired by the sonic explorations undertaken by the Acoustic Ecology movement, this “performance” becomes a decentralized, shared experience—an opportunity and an invitation to experiment with the senses and allow for stillness and natural observation to emerge.

The second component of this project will take place through the end of October and into November 2007 and will involve small-group meditation sessions in various homes and domestic spaces throughout Vancouver. For these sessions Santizo will lead the group through a series of perceptual exercizes, where he notes “the act of sitting, as an informal meditative moment, is for this project thought of as a “performed” event, one that is about mutually holding stillness and spaciousness, rather than desiring climax.”

Ultimately, Pivot / Horizon is intended to act as a frame for a raw moment, to simply exist. As well as being a reflection on the nature of experience and ontological art-making, this project is offered as a question into the nature of first-hand experience. Silence and stillness are only the external conditions, here performed, that are in effect pointers for the fold-of-form and the field-of-consciousness to be allowed: open, whole and fresh.

To schedule or learn more about these sessions please contact the Helen Pitt Gallery at 604.681.6740 or email us at [email protected].

Igor Santizo is a Vancouver-based interdisciplinary artist. Through his drawing collections, found object work, conceptual projects, sound experiments and teaching, he aims to explore consciousness, body, object and document as stratas of attention, experience and art making. His work has been exhibited locally and abroad, including in solo projects in Vancouver at the Western Front, the Or Gallery, LES Gallery and Gaff Gallery. He has also participated in group exhibitions the Belkin Satellite, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Metropole, White Columns, and CESTA (CZ).

 

 

     

 

Velveeta Krisp and Tyler Wheatcroft
ph level
Presented in partnership with LIVE: the Performance Art Biennial

Friday, October 19th at 11:00 pm, offsite on Carrall Street in Gastown

For one evening only, phlevel proposes to create a public appearance/performance. For the uninitiated, “ph level” is Paris Hilton, a monkey, a bandaged human figure, photographers, paparazzi, publicists, and a male dancer. In the 200 block of Carrall Street in Gastown, “ph level” will pull up in a limousine, roll out a red carpet, and invite the public to interact with Paris Hilton and her entourage. For this performance cameras are both indispensable and encouraged. As part of this spectacle, ph level involves a raffle for the the chance for selected people from the arrested public to participate in a sex video (to be shot in the limo), or to join ph level in their next appearances. After autographs and photo op’s ph level departs on their night of endless partying.

Velveeta Krisp is director of the Signal and Noise Festival. Since graduating from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design 2002, she has participated in the Project 8-Super 8 Film Festival, Signal and Noise Festival, LIVE Biennial of Performance Art and in projects at the Western Front, Video In Studios (VIVO), and Intermission Artists Society.

Tyler Wheatcroft is Vancouver-based artist.

 

 

     

 

Helen Pitt Dance Party Fundraiser Marathon

The Helen Pitt Gallery requests your presence at our end-of-summer dance party and fundraiser at ArtX (formerly Sam the Record Man). Crump, foxtrot, pogo or pirouette as you may...all styles appreciated.

Saturday, September 1st
Doors at 8 | $8
568 Seymour St. (Between Dunsmiur and Pender)

DJ Revise, DJ Pop Echo and DJs Hotdog and Ice Cream
Decorations by The Lions
Visuals by Weekend Leisure

 

 

     

 

The Sandwich Club

A Helen Pitt Gallery summer celebration of sandwiches, bicycles, good company and sublime landscapes.

Come join the Sandwich Club! The Sandwich Club is dedicated to organizing leisure trips that involve packing a lunch, and heading forth in search of the wild. This series of Sandwich Club expeditions, in partnership with the Helen Pitt Gallery, involves three planned bicycle trips to three various excellent sandwich-eating destinations around Vancouver. All you need is yourself, a bicycle, and picnic supplies (sandwich fixings and beverages). Helmets are definitely recommended.

Meet at the Helen Pitt Gallery for any or all of the three trips mentioned below.

Sun. June 17th: Whytecliff Park. Meet at 12:30pm, leave at 1:00pm sharp for a scenic, ocean ride along Marine Dr. to Whytecliff Park. Approximate duration: 4-5hrs.

Sun. June 24th:
Richmond Nature Park. Meet at 11:30pm leave at 12:00pm sharp and ride to Richmond Nature Park and historical Finn Slough (a Finnish, fishing community on stilts, dating back to 1890). Approximate duration: 4-5 hours.

Mon. June 25th: Pacific Spirit National Park. Meet at 5:30pm, leave at 6:00pm sharp. Ride to Pacific Spirit National Park for a picnic, taking a scenic route past Camosun Bog, the Celtic Shipyards and other highlights. Approximate duration: 3hrs.

We hope to see you there!

 

 

     

 

Helen’s Cookbook Book Launch

Wednesday, July 4, 2007 at 7.30pm
Wine will be served with complimentary cheeses and chocolates


Please join us at the Helen Pitt Gallery for the launch reception of our latest book, Helen's Cookbook, a cornucopia of recipes by artists, food-related texts and images—a playful, yet critical ode to all things eaten. This yummy 86-page, full-colour extravaganza is the second component of the Helen Pitt Gallery's year-long investigation and celebration of food, eating and the social and artistic possibilities of the meal.

Following Helen's Wedding, our wedding-themed fundraiser and banquet from last fall, HELEN'S COOKBOOK features recipes and food-themed writings, and images by: Kim Kennedy Austin, Kristina Podesva, Abbas Akhavan, Marina Roy, Natasha McHardy, Randy Lee Cutler, Margot Leigh Butler, Renay Egami, Michael Turner,
Aleksandra Idzior, Patrik Andersson, Nancy Nisbet, William Wood, Phillip McCrum, Jesse Caryl, Haig Aivazian, Linda Chinfen, Allison Andrachuk, Lance Blomgren, Eleanor Morgan, Riisa Walden, Divya Mehra, Nina & Sasha Krieger, Ron Tran, Sydney Hermant, Jeremy Todd, Bob Blumer, Donato Mancini, Arabella Campbell, Gareth Moore, Johann Groebner, Anne Lesley Selcer, Carolee Schneeman, Gaile Addison, Isabelle Pauwels, Martha Rosler, Erin Mouré, Kegan McKadden, Vandana Shiva, Emmy Lee, Adrienne Lai, and Emily Rosamond.

HELEN'S COOKBOOK
Editors: Abbas Akhavan and Marina Roy
Designed by Carley Hodgkinson
ISBN 978-0-9782165-4-2
$20

 

 

     

 

A film by Roy and McHardy
Alice and Martha

Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 8:00 pm

Roy and McHardy’s newest collaboration, Alice and Martha(30 minutes, 2007) is the tale of two women who earn their living at a tedious delivery job. The film follows the protagonists through their daily routine; against the backdrop of a generic city, Martha monopolizes the conversation with her nostalgic memories of the old country, her disenchantment of modern-day life, and her dreams of escape. Alice’s pent-up anxieties and emotions translate into anger as she is forced to respond to Martha’s antics. She wonders if she’ll be able to keep it together in the presence of her overbearing companion whose observations force her to question such a mundane existence. To what lengths will they go to escape their repetitive daily lives?

The artists will be in attendance for this world premier of Roy and McHardy’s latest opus. Refreshments will be served lots of laughs will be had. We hope you can all attend.

Roy and McHardy have been working collaboratively on video productions since 2003. Together they write, direct, and perform a variety of character “duos” whose relationship forms the crux of their narratives. While departing from their two earlier works based on do-it-yourself television programs, their newest work continues to provide a critical yet humorous and nostalgic analysis of contemporary notions of identity and labour.

 

 

     

 

Duo Duplex
An evening of improvised music by Stephen Lyons (guitar, implements) with Ben Wilson (laptop computer, implements), and Darren Williams (saxophone) with Lee Hutzulak (41 3/4" x 30" metal shelf, packaging, contact mic)

Thursday, March 29 at 8:00pm

The Helen Pitt Gallery is pleased to host Somesuch Music’s inaugural concert of their new music performance series, featuring four prolific Vancouver-based musicians. The Somesuch Music concert series is devoted to the presentation of new music with a focus on improvisation and contemporary composition. Somesuch Music produces regular concerts featuring local and international artists performing in unique spaces around Vancouver. For more information visit www.myspace.com/somesuchmusicseries.

Stephen Lyons’ physical approach to the guitar blends thoughtful extended technique with an unconventional sense of musical structure. Lyons practice focuses on the natural sounds inherent in the instrument—as well as wire brushes, mallets, knives, bathroom chains, and cello bows. Active in the Vancouver creative music community for almost a decade, Lyons’ projects include Fond of Tigers and Heartwarmongering.

Ben Wilson is a Vancouver based composer, performer and improviser of acoustic and electronic music. His compositions have been performed across Canada as well as in North Ireland, France, Germany, Portugal, Australia, and Japan. Ben has completed residencies at Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe, Germany and the Computer Music Summer Workshop at the Centre de Création Musicale Iannis Xenakis in Paris, France.

Somesuch Music Series cofounder Darren Williams has been active for over a decade as a performer of musical improvisation its many forms. He has performed with John Oswald, Eugene Chadbourne, Mats Gustafsson, and John Abram among others. As a diverse instrumentalist Williams explores the timbral possibilities of saxophones and bassoon. Williams plays regularly at the 1067 and the Cobalt’s Fake Jazz Wednesdays in various ensembles including The Robots On Fire and The Sorrow And The Pity.

Lee Hutzulak's music strikes a balance between electro-acoustic improvisation and musique concrète, focusing on texture, tone and space. Hutzulak has played regularly at some of Vancouver's more intimate venues such as Blim, Chroma Books, the Western Front, the Cellar Jazz Club, 1067, and Video In. Recently he has also been working as a sound designer, composing for film, live theatre, dance, and performing in festivals such as Signal & Noise and the New Forms Festival.

 

 

     

 

Open Slide Night
Friday, March 2, 2007 at 7:30 pm

Featuring artist presentations by:
Ian Wojtowicz
Kayla Guthrie
Colourschool/Kristina Lee Podesva


Please join us this Friday evening for our latest round of OPEN SLIDE NIGHT, the Helen Pitt Gallery's ongoing series of artist talks and slide presentations. This project invites artists of all media and experience who would like to present their work in an informal public setting. We hope these events will attract a wide cross-section of artists and audiences, and act to generate discussion, dialogue and new connections within the community. Please contact the gallery if you are interested in presenting your work at a future date.

   
     

 

A film by Jeremy Todd
Dear Guy

Saturday, March 17, 2007 at 7:00 pm

Featuring voice-over narration by Vanessa Kwan, Paloma Campbell and Lance Blomgren, lecture performances by Brad Leith, original music by Graham Meisner, voice recording by Pietro Sammarco and post-production assistance by Sharon Kahanoff.

Dear Guy dramatizes an inward and sometimes romantically sentimental meditation on the relevance, remembrance and acculturation of Guy Debord's life and works. The layered histrionics of the film engender reconsiderations of identification, moral responsibility, nostalgia, and the potential of art in contemporary society.

Excerpts from Debord's memoir and fictional epistolary monologues are combined with an eclectic assortment of appropriated materials, invented leitmotifs, lecture performances, hybrid forms of the essay film, documentary and edutainment formats. Dear Guy drifts through a labyrinth-like montage structure that frustrates passive viewing while inviting contemplation.

Jeremy Todd is an interdisciplinary artist exploring determinations of cultural memory in the formation of socio-economic realities. He has worked as an instructor since 1999 and has taught at UBC, ECIAD, North Island College and the Vancouver Film School. He was the Director/Curator for the Helen Pitt Gallery from 2003-05 and is currently working as the interim director of the Richmond Art Gallery. His text/image work is regularly featured in Front magazine and his work has been show at various venues in Vancouver and beyond. Dear Guy is his first film.

For more information please go to www.dearguyfilm.blogspot.com

 

 

 

     

 

Overpass! A Melodrama
CD release party for a new audio docudrama (Alien8 recordings)
With live music by Sam Shalabi and guests.

Friday, February 23rd 2007 at 8:00 pm

Overpass! is an audio meditation on the strangeness of Vancouver, featuring libretto by Adam Frank and music by Sam Shalabi. A mix of dialogue, interviews, documentary material, and composed music, this recording presents the story of Antonia, a new arrival who finds herself mystified by the city. In seven vignettes Antonia orients
herself through encounters with real and fictional locals. She investigates the city’s peculiarities, including its preoccupation with nature, failed freeway projects, and attempts at urban planning. Drawn to the Keefer Street pedestrian overpass and its
history, Antonia finds a way to understand Vancouver’s particular
response to modernization.

The CD is the product of a three-year collaboration between Adam Frank, who teaches poetry at UBC, and Sam Shalabi, a Montréal-based composer and musician.

For more information contact: [email protected] and www.alien8recordings.com

 

 

EARTHQUAKE ON ALEXANDER
Friday, January 26, 2007
Doors at 8 pm

Featuring Performances By:
Ian Wyatt, Neal Rockwell, Jason Reizner, and guests Franny and Nicky

The Helen Pitt Gallery is pleased to commence the first installment of our EARTHQUAKE ON ALEXANDER performance series, a night devoted to experiments in live sound and performance art .

With his unique brand of sound on sound, Ian Wyatt weaves a poncho of folksy experimentation and interactive percussive elements. Guaranteed to sooth and irritate in alternating waves, you will be pleased to note that Wyatt is equal parts Orator and Mystic—a latter day electric shaman, always with a direct gaze and clear eyes.

Anyone familiar with Neal Rockwell’s impromptu rants will appreciate this chance to hear him perform raps. Armed with only a dictaphone and ghetto-blaster, Rockwell will take you to the gates of Hades before redeeming you with an unlikely turn of phrase that will make you embarrassed and happy.

No one knows about things better than Jason Reizner. Whether describing every part and procedure involved in a head gasket change on a Delta 88 Oldsmobile, or his concrete knowledge of Proper Names, Reizner reminds the viewer that even the most abstract jargon can come out sounding more like prose than poetry in the face of real facts.

Between performances the latest collaborative duo de force will command some respect with their weird songs! Franny & Nicky (aka Francesca Bennett and Nicholas Matranga) bring a little bit of everyday life into the gallery space, and we all know what romantic misadventures can result from this kind of madness. Yes! And it isn’t just songs they’re cooking up either, so come down and check it out!

 

to top