A Future for Memory: Art and Life After the Great East Japan Earthquake
When: February 11 to September 5, 2021 Where: MOA (6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver) Admission: Pre-booked timed-entry tickets to MOA (which includes admission to this exhibition) will be required.
Curated by Fuyubi Nakamura, MOA’s Curator for Asia, the exhibition will open in time to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2011 triple disaster that saw a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown hit the eastern region of Japan.
The exhibition highlights nature’s destructive impact on humans and its regenerative potential, and explores how humans live in harmony with nature, as well as how new connections and relationships have developed in the aftermath of this tragic event.
“The exhibition is derived from my personal experiences in the disaster region. I spent a few months in the Miyagi Prefecture, which suffered the largest number of casualties, and I have returned every year since. I worked particularly closely on rescuing and cleaning photographs found amid the debris, an experience that led me to reconsider the relationship between memory and objects.”
The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (“PuSh“) has announced the lineup for the newly formed PuSh Rally, January 28 to February 6, 2021. The PuSh Rally is a free online series designed to respond directly to this deeply uncertain moment in our cultural sector by connecting audiences, artists, and industry leaders in Vancouver and around the globe in vital and meaningful dialogue.
The PuSh Rally
Including a variety of artist encounters and conversations, international artist presentations, and surprise performances from some of the world’s finest artists, thought leaders, and change makers.
Where: Online and on-site (limited) When: January 28 to February 6, 2021 Tickets: Register for free, or booked your timed entry tickets for partner events online
The PuSh Rally, curated by two of Vancouver’s most celebrated theatre artists, Theatre Replacement’s Maiko Yamamoto and Neworld Theatre’s Marcus Youssef, will provide a global platform for meaningful discourse and idea exchange about the challenges and possibilities inherent in conflict, and the future of live performance.
PuSh Rally Events
State of the (PuSh) Union Streaming Online January 28, 2021 at 10:00am
When a community has experienced divisive conflict, how much can its members speak openly about their perception of what happened, without making it worse? Is it possible to do so ethically, showing care and respect for all involved? In this performative conversation, Rally Curators Marcus Youssef and Maiko Yamamoto use their own subjective experiences of what’s taken place at PuSh over the last six months to try to find out.
Who would have guessed a year ago that my favourite new Twitter account to follow would be that of a Municipal Affairs Reporter for CBC Vancouver? Or that he’d create an awesome mega list of Vancouver’s Best Parks?
Over the last seven months, I along with 39.1K other followers have enjoyed the graphs, charts, and details that Justin McElroy provides daily on the microblogging platform. One of his personal side projects in 2020 was to visit and rank every park in the City of Vancouver, and on Christmas Day he unveiled the website where all of his notes will live on in perpetuity.
Vancouver’s Best Parks, Ranked
“In May of 2020, in the middle of a global health pandemic, British Columbia’s chief health officer said it was okay for people in different households to see one another, but “our mantra for the next little while is going to be few faces and big spaces.” So, that’s what we did,” Justin writes on his Vancouver Park Guide.
He ranked 241 parks, over five months with the help of Steve Masuch, Ricardo Bortolon, Isabel Ferreras, Gerald Deo, Andrew Forshner, Geoff Lister, Sam Bruin, Layne Bruin, Nick Rogers, Kat Green, Laura Rodgers and Mary Leong.
“We went to a new neighbourhood each week, making a summer without travel or indoor socializing into one where we explored this amazing and maddening city in a unique way.”
Each park, from the biggest to the smallest, has been scored out of 40, with 10 points each for kids, adults, design and atmosphere. The only park excluded from the rankings was Oppenheimer Park, as it is still boarded up.
The Top Three
#1 Stanley Park (2000 West Georgia St, West End area)
#2 Trout Lake (3300 Victoria Dr, Kensington-Cedar Cottage area)
#3 Jericho Beach (3941 Point Grey Rd, West Point Grey area)
The Bottom Three
#241: Park Site on Quesnel Drive (4301 Quesnel Dr, Arbutus area)
#240: Park Site on Puget Drive (4309 Puget Dr, Arbutus area)
How did Choklit Park or Dude Chilling Park rank? Or what about the Laurel Landbridge, New Brighton or Queen Elizabeth Park? Visit the Vancouver Park Guide and follow Justin on Twitter for more insights.
It’s a new year and time for a new monthly event list! While there are still COVID-19 restrictions in place, you can still find some entertaining activity options through some of our local nature, science, and arts organizations. There are also a few distanced, outdoor happenings on the calendar. Find these and more January events in Metro Vancouver below:
A new year, another look back at the city’s history through images. I think everyone is looking forward to 2021 and the hope and promise it brings (in particular with a COVID-19 vaccine). As a nice little distraction in the meantime, let’s take a look back at Vancouver in 1921 with this photo collection.
March 12, 1921: The Capitol Theatre opened at 820 Granville Street. Unlike the Pantages and Orpheum theatres, which were built to house vaudeville and live theatre, the Capitol was a pure movie palace, a lush theatre that originally seated 2,500. It was equipped with a huge Wurlitzer organ to accompany the movies.
1919 – Fred “Cyclone” Taylor. Photo Stuart Thomson.
March 21, 1921: The first game of the 1921 Stanley Cup series (a best-of-five contest between the Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Millionaires) took place at the Denman Arena. The attendance for Game 1 was 11,000 fans, setting a new world record for the largest crowd to see a hockey game. The Senators won three games to two.
Legendary Millionaires player Fred ‘Cyclone’ Taylor (who won a cup with Ottawa in 1909, and Vancouver in 1915) retired after this match up in 1921
June 15, 1921: A brief and ineffective period of prohibition that had started in BC in 1917 came to an end, but from this date on there would be provincial government control of the sale of spirituous and malt liquors.
1921 Construction of the Peace Arch. Photo by Stuart Thomson. Archives #CVA 99-928
September 6, 1921: The Peace Arch was dedicated before a crowd at the Douglas Crossing on the BC/Washington border. Premier Oliver attended, coming from Victoria in a boat that anchored at Blaine with nearly 400 other people. Victoria’s 72nd Seaforth Highlanders band played the US national anthem and the Bellingham Elks band played God Save the King.
October 28, 1921: Disaster up the Sea to Sky; a sudden flood wave at Britannia Beach crashed down on the village and swept away 50 of its 100 houses, killing 35 people.
Also in 1921…
Angel of Victory (1940s photo by Jack Lindsay). Archives # CVA 1184-1079.
The “Winged Victory”, also referred to as “Angel of Victory” bronze sculpture by Montreal artist Coeur de Lion MacCarthy was installed in 1921. Commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to mark the more than 1,100 CPR employees who perished during World War I, three statues were placed near CPR landmarks. Vancouver’s sits outside of Waterfront Station. The others are in Winnipeg (installed 1922) and Montreal (installed 1923). The dates of World War II were later added on plaques attached to each statues base. The statue was considered one of the most evocative memorial sculptures, depicting an angel carrying a deceased soldier to heaven at the moment of his death. [Source: Vancouver Heritage]
1922 image of Ballantyne Pier construction. Archives # 1376-316
Construction began on Ballantyne Pier. It would be finished in 1923. Although only a cargo-storage and loading facility for Vancouver’s busy port, the original pier was designed more as a triumphal gateway to the city than a warehouse.
The east half of False Creek was filled for yards of the Great Northern (now Burlington Northern) and the Canadian Northern Pacific (now part of Canadian National Railways). An 1876 bridge that crossed the creek was removed.
1921 – Sightseeing. Archives # 99 – 3368
The 1921 census showed these population figures:
Burnaby
12,873
Coquitlam
2,374
Delta
2,839
Fraser Mills
600
Langley
4,881
Maple Ridge
3,772
New Westminster
14,495
North Van City
7,652
North Van District
3,800
Pitt Meadows
595
Point Grey
13,736
Port Coquitlam
1,178
Port Moody
1,030
Richmond
4,825
South Vancouver
32,482
Vancouver
117,217
West Vancouver
2,434
1921 – Promoting “Love Special” with silent film star Wally Reid. Archives # 99-897
