Past Echoes in the Present celebrates local Asian dance, online and via open-air Granville Island exhibit, May 24 to 31
New Works marks Asian Heritage Month in hybrid film showcase of works by artists including Crossmaneuver, Erika Mitsuhashi, FakeKnot, Immigrant Lessons, Joshua Ongcol, and TWObigsteps.
Immigrant Lessons’ Origins, Episode 2.
Crossmaneuver’s Kay Huang Barnes
New Works presents Past Echoes in the Present online and at Granville Island from May 24 to 31.
NEW WORKS is marking Asian Heritage Month with a multidisciplinary project that mixes an online hub and an open-air exhibition that you can tour on Granville Island—in multiple languages.
Past Echoes in the Presen celebrates work by Vancouver Asian-Canadian dance artists Crossmaneuver, Erika Mitsuhashi, FakeKnot, Immigrant Lessons, Joshua Ongcol, Kevin “Shazam” Li 李彥樓, Ne. Sans, Sarah Wong, and TWObigsteps. You can find online programming at past-echoes.ca,
The event features a pre-recorded site tour on Granville Island by filmmaker Ladan Sahraei, with work showing on the exteriors, windows, and lobbies of the Carousel Theatre Studio, Ocean Artworks, Old Bridge Street Studio, Railspur Alley, the Arts Club Theatre, and Waterfront Theatre.
The tour is offered in spoken English with English captions, and subtitles in simplified Chinese, Hindi, Punjabi, and Tagalog, with ASL interpretation. Visitors with access to a mobile device will be able to access audio elements via their smartphones, or they can follow up their tour with a visit to the online site.
Installations take on video and other forms. In the case of Crossmaneuver's Present in Absence: A solo, visitors can see a video installation of live/broadcast performances by Kay Huang Barnes at Railspur Alley. The work shows a collection of past rehearsals and performances with overlaid text. Sarah Wong’s ‘pliant spaces: yat, yih, saam, sei, featured outside Carousel Theatre for Young People, is influenced by tai chi. Originally commissioned as a solo for the 2020 Vines Art Festival, it now spans a film from the performance, a writing piece archiving the creative process, a walking meditation, and a textile-based installation.
Immigrant Lessons’ Past that echoes in the present, meanwhile, is a short film that highlights works from their dance/movement, immersive, theatre, visual media oeuvre. Online and outside the Arts Club, Ralph Escamillan presents filmed excerpts from a selection of works by his company FakeKnot, including HINKYPUNK, whip, and BLUSCRN: BLUrm. And Erika Mitsuhashi utilizes photography in the series “something somewhere else'“.
There's much more, with nine artists in all. The live component adheres to strict COVID protocols; you can find out more about those here.
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