“Sora, you need to give birth to a daughter.”

Inundated by the idea that prosperity and success will come to her once she gives birth to a daughter, Sora Park’s exhibition Daughter, Daughter, Daughter at grunt gallery reflects Korean diasporic experiences through the exploration of Saju, Korea’s ancient form of divination and fortune-telling practice that predicts one’s fate based on the date and time of their birth.

Travelling between the past, present, and future, Park invites the visitors to the gallery space trapped inside a red square on her Saju chart that links her destiny to motherhood. As a happily child-free person, Park delves into how her childhood spent in Korea and her upbringing in a Korean-Canadian household where childbearing is considered a norm collide with her own interpretation of motherhood. 

Daughter, Daughter, Daughter depicts a playful perception of a fortune-telling practice and its claim that the future can seriously be predicted while revealing a tiny fraction of trust and belief in the practice that lures so many people into being participants. By applying aesthetics within Saju to her colourful and immersive installation, the exhibition at grunt gallery explores the relationship between people’s belief in the occult and the role that gender plays in predicting one’s fate.

Sora Park gratefully acknowledges the support from the Canada Council for the Arts for this exhibition. 

Sora Park (She/Her) is a Korean-Canadian interdisciplinary artist living on the traditional territories of the q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), Máthxwi (Matsqui) and Se’mya’me’ (Semiahmoo) First Nations. She received her BFA in Photography from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and received her MA in Fine Arts from Bergen Academy of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway. In her art practice, she is currently interested in exploring the space between clarity and confusion brought on by diasporic experiences.

Image courtesy of the artist.
This exhibition is curated by Whess Harman.

Digitized Programming:

Publication catalogue:

PDF
A companion catalogue for the exhibition with curatorial text by Whess Harmon, and exhibition response by Areum Kim.
Visual description available: Plain Text, Audio.
A free printed copy is available in gallery while supplies last.

Artist Talk:

Summary: Recording of the artist Sora Park in conversation with local artist Romi Kim from January 11th, 2024. Video has English captions.

Creative Access Audio Tour:

Creative Access Audio Tour of the exhibition. Link opens on SoundCloud (external link).
Listen to a visually described tour of Daughter, Daughter, Daughter, written by Sora Park with support from Keimi Nakashima-Ochoa and Kay Slater, and narrated by Kay Slater.
Transcript available: Google Doc, Plain Text, PDF

Site map:

A PDF containing art work titles and materials. This information is also available within the creative access audio tour.

Virtual Walkthrough:

360° digital tour of the exhibition.

Opening Reception:
Date/Time: Tuesday, May 1, 2018, 7 – 9PM
Location: grunt gallery #116 350 – East 2nd Ave

Artist Talk: Azadeh Emadi
Date/Time: Thursday, May 10, 2018, 6 – 7PM
Location: grunt gallery #116 350 – East 2nd Ave

Lecture:
Dr Laura U. Marks & conversation with artist Azadeh Emadi:
“Creative Algorithms: From Islamic Art to Digital Media”
Date/Time: Wednesday, May 23, 2018, 7– 9 PM
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Rm 7000

ARTIST: Azadeh Emadi

Biography:

Azadeh Emadi is a video maker and media artists who experiment with alternative approaches to image making process and technologies of perception. In applying and developing aspects of classical Persian-Islamic culture and concepts, her work aims to stimulate dialogue between Western and Middle Eastern cultures. Her videos and installations explore the intersection between reality, perception, technology and time, as an investigation for finding new ways of seeing that innovatively address some of the current socio-cultural and environmental issues. She is also a lecturer and researcher at the School of Culture and Creative Arts (Film and Television Studies Department), The University of Glasgow.

Link paper- Pixelated View: Investigating the Pixel in Light of Substantial Motion by Azadeh Emadi.

Link to Press Release

Link to Catalogue PDF_ Motion in Motion_Azadeh Emadi

SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE DATES:

Happening # 1: Procession through cemetery, candle lighting and Turkish tea served

• Date/Time: January 13, 2018, 2 – 5 PM
• Location: Mountain View Cemetery Celebration Hall & Courtyard

Happening #2: Turkish coffee fortune readings and traditional Turkish Tahini Helva served.

• Date/Time: January 20, 2018, 2 – 5 PM.
• Location: grunt gallery #116 350 – East 2nd Ave

Happening #3: Akay family game from their great-grandmother titled, 1001 Fortunes and traditional Noah’s Pudding served.

• Date/Time: January 27, 2018, 2 – 5 PM.
• Location: grunt gallery #116 350 – East 2nd Ave.

“Our work will allow us and others to re-experience memories/emotions with late ones and create a possibility for understanding / honouring our ancestors and alive family members. We will try to create a commemoration in act and in physicality through building a shrine and creating events. We will create a place to eat, play and pray. Where we will find ways to deal with ghosts/grief of many geographies/generations dead and alive and search ways to coexist in peace and harmony.” Derya Akay, Dilara Akay

In January of 2018, grunt gallery will produce the exhibition “Ghost Spring” a two-person show by Dilara Akay and Derya Akay looking at funeral practices within their own family in Turkey, passing down information from one generation to the next. This mother and son team re-creates the rituals around death for some lives who are not considered grievable. The artists will produce an installation and a series of activations that explore ways to deal with ghosts/griefs of many geographies/generations and experience ways to coexist— focusing especially on food that is presented to, and eaten for, the dead. The works in the gallery include garlands and flowers, texts and drawings as offerings to their ancestors.

Biographies

Dilara Akay

Born in (’63) Adana,Turkey lives and works in Göcek, Turkey. Graduated Bosphorus University (’85). Founder of artist platform HAYAKA ARTI (‘05) and alternative gallery project interfacegallery.com (‘09). Recent exhibitions include “Water is Life”, Santa Fe Art Institute (‘16); “Deaf and Mute”, Kuad Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey (‘16); Mardin Biennial, Turkey (‘15). Akay is an ambassador for Terzo Paradiso, a project of Michelangelo Pistoletto & Cittadellarte.
www.dilaraakay.com

Derya Akay (b, 1988, Turkey) is an artist living in Vancouver.  He received the 2016 Portfolio Prize Emerging Artist Award in Vancouver. He has an upcoming two-person project with Dilara Akay at Grunt Gallery, Vancouver in January 2018 titled Ghost Spring and solo exhibition at Unit 17, Vancouver in May 2018. Recent solo exhibitions include with bread, Campbell River Art Gallery, 2017; Pumice, Del Vaz Projects, Los Angeles, California, 2017; Painting with Light, Kunstverein Toronto, 2015; Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Supper, Centre A, Vancouver, 2014. Recent group shows include The Lulennial II: A Low-Hanging Fruit, Lulu, Mexico City, 2018; Nature’s Way, Cooper Cole, Toronto, 2017; Here, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, 2017; Ambivalent Pleasures, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2016. He recently completed his project Mantı, Börek, Baklava at the Burrard Marina Field House Residency program hosted by the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. For this project, Akay worked with elder women with immigrant backgrounds to host a series of cooking workshops and lunches open to the public.

www.deryaakay.com

Curated by Glenn Alteen

Links:

Glenn Alteen essay on Ghost Spring [pdf]

Derya’s website here

Dilara’s website here

grunt gallery presents Crossed, an exhibition by artist Ahmad Tabrizi and curated by Makiko Hara. This multi-media exhibition creates a sense of portraiture compiled of Farsi script, piles of dressmaking pins, and glimpses of the artist himself – both visually and through audio.

Visit grunt gallery over the month of June to witness Valerie Salez’ Play, Fall, Rest, Dance, an installation that continously changes based on the creative output by children with disabilities. grunt gallery is proud to partner with KickStart Disability Arts and Culture to bring Salez’ project to Vancouver following a successful residency that occurred at Open Space (Victoria, BC) last year.

Artist Valerie Salez creates an environment that encourages artistic freedom, exploration and installation-making over the course of several weeks. Children participate in art-making sessions that reimagine the space through the use of various materials, some of which are repurposed from Salez’ past projects, and through performance, movement, sound and play.

The artist works with children with disabilities to emphasize the state of making and being, the pursuit of uninhibitied creative exploration that is void of rules, structures and concepts of ‘right or wrong’ and ‘perfection vs. mistakes’. Children are enabled with artistic autonomy and the artist thoughtfully guides them to explore their creative processes.

Visitors are invited to stop by the gallery throughout the month of June to see how the installation is reimagined, rebuilt and reconsidered during the month. The gallery is open to the public throughout the month of June.

Due to the nature of this project, there will be a closing reception on Thursday June 26, 7-10pm. The project will run from June 2-July 5.

Read the blog:

https://grunt.ca/play-fall-rest-dance-blog/

Press Clippings:

The Source: The artistry of play: installation showcases children’s art http://thelasource.com/en/2014/06/09/the-artistry-of-play-installation-showcases-childrens-art/

Article:

Crafting an experience of Art-making: Valerie Salez’ Play, Fall, Rest, Dance written by Anastasia Scherders

Artist Bio:

Since 2003, Valerie Salez has been engaged in a multi-disciplinary art practice that includes performance, video, photography, sculptural installation, and collage. Her work has been both collaborative and solo. Often relying on provisional materials, it can be framed as arte povera and/or situationist in nature. For four years, Salez engaged in snow-shoveling performances/interventions at residencies across Canada. Video and photo documentation of these performances have been exhibited at university art galleries and artist-run centers in Canada, including the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad. Other collaborations include large outdoor sculptural installations with elements of performance. As well, Salez has produced a number of solo installations using collected objects and textiles that have been installed in various galleries across Canada. Interspersed throughout the aforementioned practices she produced large-scale collage works that have been purchased by private collectors and art banks. Valerie Salez grew up in the Yukon and currently dwells in Victoria, B.C.
http://www.wooloo.org/valeriesalez

grunt gallery gratefully acknowledges Arts-Based Community Development funding from the British Columbia Arts Council for making this project possible.

(Vancouver, BC) – grunt gallery and Gallery Gachet are proud to co-present 10 years of State of Emergency (État d’Urgence), a multidisciplinary visual exhibition based on a retrospective of works from 1998-2013 during État d’Urgence (State of Emergency) and Fin Novembre (End of November).

The annual event État d’Urgence (State of Emergency) began in 1998 in downtown Montreal and was created by ATSA, a not-for-profit organization founded by artists Pierre Allard and Annie Roy. It was originally conceived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event itself is a 24-hour, 5-day refugee camp in support of people living homeless and under conditions of poverty. The event was created as a public intervention in the city and includes the provision of food, clothing and shelter as well as the production of hundreds of art works from multidisciplinary backgrounds. État d’Urgence was so successful that it has returned on an annual basis and now, 16 years later, goes by the name Fin Novembre.

The exhibition has been presented in numerous venues in Montreal, as well as cities across the province of Quebec. It is now touring Canada with exhibition dates planned in Fredricton, Calgary and Winnipeg, arriving in Vancouver to be co-exhibited at both grunt gallery and Gallery Gachet.

At grunt gallery, ATSA presents a selection of 30 ATSA art works and archives produced throughout the years of the event from 1997 to 2013, including the montage U pour Urgence presented at the Canadian Architecture Centre, Deposit, Last resort, Under surveillance, The Brasero and a collection of video capsules by Santiago Bertolino, Steve Patry, Henrique Vera Villanueva and Luc Sénécal. This selection shows the evolution of the event and all the political and social difficulties and challenges the artists experienced.

At Gallery Gachet, the 10 years of State of Emergency exhibition features artwork by over 20 artists—local, national and international—who made original contributions to État d’Urgence during the event’s run between 1998 and 2010. Included in these works are collaborative illustrations, sound track and photo projects; paintings on unconventional media; drawings, a survival handbook; miniature cardboard architecture and more.

Join us on Friday April 11 at Gallery Gachet (5:30-7:30) and at grunt gallery (7:30-9:30) for the opening receptions of 10 years of State of Emergency (État d’Urgence). Join us on Saturday April 12th (2-3pm) for the artist talk. These exhibitions run until Saturday May 17^th, 2014.

Gallery Gachet (gachet.org), 88 East Cordova Street, 
Vancouver, BC V6A1K3

Media Contact: Lee Williams programming@gachet.org 604.687.2468

grunt gallery (grunt.ca) 116-350 East 2^nd Ave, Vancouver, BC V5T4R8
Media Contact: Karlene Harvey karlene@grunt.ca | 604.875.9516

ATSA wishes to thank the Conseil des Arts de Montréal en tournée for producing and staging the first exhibition and tour in Montreal, as well as the Conseil des art et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts for the Canada-wide tour.

Gallery Gachet and grunt gallery would like to thank the following funders:
Vancouver Coastal Health, Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver.

Who is ATSA?

ATSA is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 by artists Pierre Allard and Annie Roy. The pair creates transdisciplinary works and events for the public realm that take the form of interventions, installations, performance art and realistic stagings. Their actions are born of a desire to raise public awareness of various social, environmental and heritage issues that are crucial and that need to be addressed. They aim to sway both the public and the media—in short, to motivate as many citizens as possible to take an active role in improving society.

ATSA is recipient of the 2013 Honourable mention for the Mayor’s Democracy Price, the 2011 Giverny Capital price, the 2010 Pratt & Whitney Canada Nature de l’Art Prize awarded by the Conseil des arts de Montréal, the Citoyen de la Culture 2008 award handed out by Les Arts et la Ville and of the Artistes pour la Paix 2008 award.

ATSA is also proud to have been the spokesperson of Artists in the Art of the City Mouvement (2013),  5^ème Sommet citoyen de Montréal (2009), 22^ème Exposition inter-collégiale d’arts plastiques du Réseau Inter-collégial des Activités Socioculturelle du Québec (RIASQ 2010), and of Journées Québécoises de la Solidarité Internationale (2011). ATSA is a member of the board of RAIQ.

http://www.atsa.qc.ca/en/

Join grunt gallery on February 20th for the opening reception of one man’s junk by Toronto-based artist, Laura Moore.

New technology drives the manufacturing of new electronic products. But during this pursuit of the new and improved, what happens with the obsolete?

Laura Moore hand-carves blocks of limestone into outdated electronic devices. Contradicting the indispensability that most discarded electronics face, these tributes monument how once-valuable objects become undesired commodities.

Moore began one man’s junk during an artist in residence program at the Thames Art Gallery. The artist states an ongoing interest in creating tensions between the permanent versus disposable and the interactive versus the inert. The limestone sculptures includes a computer monitor, printer and hard-drive tower measured to a 1:1 scale; stacked onto a wooden pallet.

“Stone, the material of my work, moves me in principal because it is familiar and I find its resistance stimulating. It is the monuments and sculptures that tell our history, it shapes our continents while intriguingly remaining mutable.” – Laura Moore, Artist Statement

(http://www.lauramoore.ca)

one man’s junk questions what happens when an object shifts from a prized possession to a nonentity, and asks you to find value amongst junk, waste and the discarded.

grunt gallery is pleased to announce that this will be Moore’s first exhibition in Vancouver, British Columbia. The artist will be in attendance for the opening reception.

Artist Bio:

Laura Moore has an MFA from York University, a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a Diploma of Art from Fanshawe College.

Currently, Laura’s 2010 series Kernel Memory is installed at the St. Catharines City Hall Sculpture Garden; this work is on exhibit until September 2016. In June 2014, components of Laura’s new series one man’s junk will be installed as part of the Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener and Area Biennial (CAFKA) and in the group exhibition Material World at the Indianapolis Art Center in Indiana, USA.
In the past, Laura has exhibited her work at; Station Gallery (Whitby ON), Ontario Science Centre, Oeno Sculpture Garden (Bloomfield ON), Thames Art Gallery (Chatham ON), Siena Art Institute (Siena Italy), Shoshana Wayne Gallery (Santa Monica CA USA), Leaside Sculpture Trail (Uxbridge ON), Peak Gallery (Toronto ON), Stride Gallery (Calgary AB), Cambridge Galleries, Glenhyrst Gallery of Brant (Brantford ON) and Anna Leonowens Gallery (Halifax NS).

Exhibition Essay:

one man’s junk: Digital Monument by Luke Siemens

Interview:

Abandoned Machines by Genevieve Michaels

Thank you to the following funders:

Thank you to grunt’s operating funders:

The Audain Foundation
The City of Vancouver
British Columbia Arts Council
Canada Council for the Arts

grunt gallery is excited to announce the exhibition for MAMOOK IPSOOT (Chinook Translation: To Hide or Make Hidden).

This past summer, grunt gallery invited Dutch artist, Desiree Palmen, to visit Vancouver and work with 7 local Aboriginal youth on a collaborative project called Mamook Ipsoot. This project is the Vancouver incarnation of Palmen’s art practice in which she helps youth camouflage themselves into a chosen setting within their urban landscape and photo-document the results. The project took place at grunt gallery this past July; the outcome was 7 unique camouflage images that were created by the youth with the help of the artist.

This project evolved out of Palmen’s performance arts practice of interventions in everyday scenarios. In 1999 Palmen used camouflage suits to intervene and respond to public surveillance cameras that monitored citizens without permission. She later expanded this idea into youth-driven projects in which she helps youth to explore how they connect with their surroundings and affirm their presence in familiar and favorite locations in their home city.

“In Istanbul, this project was called “Saklambaç,” which is Turkish for the children’s game Hide & Seek. Often this project takes place in areas where the youth’s connection to the land is extremely important, whether that be historically, culturally or politically,” says Palmen. “It was great to see the relationships the youth developed among one another during the workshop, each in his or her own individual way, working with huge confidence to blend in with their favorite chosen spot.”

These camouflage images have been produced as bus shelter posters and can be seen in various off-site locations around Vancouver, BC, from October to November.

Bus transit poster locations:

King Edward 20m west of Granville NS
MacDonald 23m North of W. 4th ES
Arbutus 28m North of Valley ES
E. Broadway 32m East of Glen NS
E. Hastings 20m West of Dunlevy NS
Nanaimo 20m North of Charles ES
Renfrew 20m North of E. Broadway ES
SW Marine 20m West of Laurel NS
Victoria 24m South of Kingsway WS
W. 16th 33m East of Highbury SS

Visit grunt gallery from October 16^th–19^th to see the exhibition of the large-scale posters hanging in our gallery. The opening reception will be held on Friday, October 18^th, from 6pm–9pm. Artist Desiree Palmen, Project Coordinator Jolene Andrews, and project youth participants will be in attendance at this event.
Add the Facebook Event.

Purchase a set of the Mamook Ipsoot Art Cards here! Limited edition.

Press Clippings:

Vancouver Sun – Mamook Ipsoot: What’s hiding in the landscape?

Read an article on the project from “The Source”.

Emilio Portal, Qiqayt, 2012

Description: An on going installation honouring the complexities and mysteries of Qiqayt history, Canadian colonialism, and the artist’s own personal journey. Emilio Portal was born 1982 in New Westminster, British Columbia, the traditional territory of the Qiqayt nation.

Bio: Emilio Portal is an artist, musician, builder, and designer of French and Peruvian descent. Portal’s work is inherently interdisciplinary and spontaneous – preferring to work in-the-moment, rather than through script. Portal has spent a number of years with Dakota, Nahuatl, and Wixarika elders experiencing the immeasurable wisdom of traditional knowledge. He received a BFA from Laurentian University in 2005, a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Dalhousie in 2007, and graduated from the MFA program at the University of Victoria in 2011.