February 9 – May 11, 2019
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 9, 2–6pm
Catriona Jeffries
950 East Cordova, Vancouver
From Catriona Jeffries:
We began by questioning our acceptance of the standards, schedules and structures of contemporary art exhibitions, and invited each of the twenty-one gallery artists to name another artist, past or present, of significance to their current work and thinking. It was our plan to bring works by each of these artists together to open our new space with an exhibition that would develop over the course of almost four months. A slow roll forward in unison.
As the exhibition progresses, the work of more than forty-two artists will appear and disappear, scheduled and unscheduled, extending beyond the gallery in writing, and as performances and screenings at other cultural sites in the city. Some works will be present for a short period. Trisha Brown’s dance, Accumulation (1971), will be performed only on the opening weekend, while we anticipate that other works will remain for long periods as the work around them changes. These cycles will not be determined before the works are experienced physically in the space, when the artists and gallery will react and develop the exhibition, unfolding together.
What will happen along the way is as yet unknown, so we ask you to stay with us and pay close attention over the coming months as we announce how and when these works will appear. We invite you to consider and experience each new arrangement, to learn from unfamiliar practices, and to discover surprising relations between works old, known, or new.
Unexplained Parade is the inaugural exhibition of Catriona Jeffries at 950 East Cordova in Vancouver, Canada. Formerly a purpose-built workshop for Pilkington Metal Marine, the building is located in an industrial zone adjacent to the Port of Vancouver, the largest working export port in North America. Prior to the 1880s, this area was the proximal coastline of Burrard Inlet, a place where land sat between numerous creeks emptying into the Pacific inlet, occupied by the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh. For Catriona Jeffries, the significant renovation of this site, led by Patkau Architects, establishes a space for the next chapter of our twenty-five-year history, centering the representation of artists as a critical and collaborative practice.
