Surrey Art Gallery explores the legacy of Expo 86 with multimedia exhibit
In the Shadow of the Pavilions: Expo 86 and Contemporary Art features more than 35 artists
The exhibit coincides with the 40th anniversary of the World's Fair coming to Vancouver. (Mahaveer Singh)
The Surrey Art Gallery is revisiting the landmark Expo 86 event, which transformed the city of Vancouver 40 years ago.
In the Shadow of the Pavilions: Expo 86 and Contemporary Art is on display until June 7. It features a range of mediums and brings together more than 35 artists to explore how the World’s Fair shaped art, culture, and the region from 1984 to 1988.
Curator of Exhibitions and Collections Jordan Strom is behind the display, which includes artwork and archival pieces in photography, painting, installation art, performance art, video, sculpture, and textiles.
Strom’s inspiration comes from a few pieces he saw years ago in the gallery’s archives that were made in response to Expo 86.
“It made me wonder what other works were made in response to Expo 86,” Strom says. “That led me to do more research, and I came across more and more works. I became increasingly interested in the moment, not so much by the official art from the World’s Fair … [but] the artwork that was from around the edges of Expo 86 or the shadows.”
The exhibition expands beyond Expo 86’s official themes of transportation and communication by also examining urban development, resource extraction, and Indigenous self-determination.
Strom says the exhibit touches on the redevelopment of False Creek through performance art, sculpture, and projected images that reflect on the buildings in the area being torn down. At the time, False Creek was an industrial part of the city.
The show also includes an early image of Haida artist Bill Reid’s Loo Taas canoe, commissioned for Expo 86. The project marked the first Haida canoe of this size carved in more than a century.
“A lot of the people involved in this project talked about how that allowed them to reconnect to their history through building this canoe, through paddling the canoe to Expo 86 and back to Haida Gwaii,” Strom says.
With Vancouver’s time to co-host the FIFA World Cup fast approaching, he says the exhibit has lessons that carry relevance today with regards to mega events — like globalization and urban development.
“Hopefully, by understanding our history, we don’t repeat the same mistakes.”
The Surrey Art Gallery will host a symposium on May 9 from 1:00 to 4:30 pm connected to the exhibit. Moderated by Strom, the discussion will include artists Debra Sparrow, Michael deCourcy, as well as curators Nika Collison, Tom Graff, and Monika Kin Gagnon. The event will also feature a performance by Gamelan Kembang Telang.
For more information, visit www.surrey.ca/arts-culture/surrey-art-gallery.
