The Polygon Podcast
By The Polygon Gallery
Supported by The Polygon's Community Leader for Accessibility: BMO Financial Group.
The Polygon Podcast theme song is "Dancers" by Circlesquare.
The Polygon PodcastJun 21, 2022
Episode 20 - Response: Soft Action, featuring Caleb Ellison-Dysart and Jacqueline Morrisseau-Addison in conversation with Jules Arita Koostachin
In this episode: a conversation between Response artists Caleb Ellison-Dysart and Jacqueline Morrisseau-Addison with filmmaker Jules Arita Koostachin that was inspired by the artists’ participation in Response: Soft Action.
Find out more about this episode here: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-20-featuring-featuring-caleb-ellison-dysart-and-jacqueline-morrisseau-addison-in-conversation-with-jules-arita-koostachin/
Caleb Ellison-Dysart (Nîhithaw Cree) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work seeks to depict the interconnection of all things. His family comes from O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation and Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Treaty 5 Territory, and he is currently attending Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Jacqueline Morrisseau-Addison(Saulteaux, Treaty 7) is an emerging installation artist, facilitator, curator, and art historian whose work prioritises Indigenous sovereignty and explores how processes of decolonisation operate across arts institutions. She holds a BFA in Art History from Concordia University.
Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin, owner of VisJuelles Productions Inc., is Cree and a band member of Attawapiskat First Nation, located in what is now called northern Ontario. Jules completed her PhD with the Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia—her research focus was on Indigenous documentary. She carries extensive experience working in Indigenous communities in varying capacities. Jules is also known as a media artist who works to honour cultural protocols and build relationships within communities through her arts practice. Her artistic endeavours are informed by her experience living with her Cree grandparents, as well as her mother, a residential school warrior.
Episode 19 featuring Zanele Muholi
In this episode, Durban-based visual activist Zanele Muholi is in conversation with photography curator John Fleetwood and independent curator and writer Missla Libsekal.
Discover more about the episode here: https://bit.ly/3sPJc1K
Photo Workshop in Newtown, Johannesburg, and in 2009 completed an MFA: Documentary Media at Ryerson University, Toronto. Muholi has won numerous awards including the ICP Infnity Award for Documentary and Photojournalism (2016); Africa’Sout! Courage and Creativity Award (2016); the Outstanding International Alumni Award from Ryerson University (2016); the Fine Prize for an emerging artist at the 2013 Carnegie International; and a Prince Claus Award (2013), among others. Muholi’s work has been exhibited at Documenta 13; the South African Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale; and the 29th São Paulo Biennale. Muholi was shortlisted for the 2015 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize for their publication Faces and Phases 2006-14 (Steidl/The Walther Collection). They are an Honorary Professor at the University of the Arts/Hochschule für Künste Bremen.
John Fleetwood is a photography curator and educator and director of Photo. He was born and lives in Johannesburg. Fleetwood has curated numerous exhibitions including recently Intimacy and Resistance (part of the Photobook Week Aarhus, Denmark, 2020)’, Five Photographers: A tribute to David Goldblatt (Johannesburg, Maputo, Durban, Bamako et al.; 2018-2019); Of traps and tropes (Kerkennah, Tunisia; 2018); A Return to Elsewhere (Johannesburg, Brighton Photo Biennale; 2014); Transition (Johannesburg, Arles; 2012-2013). In 2017, he was guest editor for Aperture’s Platform Africa edition.
Missla Libsekal is an independent writer, curator and cultural producer. In 2010 and ahead of the curve, she founded Another Africa, a much-needed digital platform and safe space to give agency to African and Diasporic voices. Operating until 2016, it became a leading destination for this sector, publishing content from a myriad of contributors. With a view on publishing not merely as an act of documentation, but also as a means of inquiry in its own right, her practice developed from an exploration of the technical and artistic possibilities of storytelling made possible through a digital medium.
Episode 18 featuring Dana Claxton, Skeena Reece, and Nadia Chaney
In this episode, the Gallery’s curator Justin Ramsey is in conversation with artists Dana Claxton and Skeena Reece about Interior Infinite, with a performance by poet Nadia Chaney. Interior Infinite is on now until September 5.
Find out more about this episode here: https://bit.ly/3jPapO7
Dana Claxton is a critically acclaimed international exhibiting artist. She works in flm, video, photography, single- and multi-channel video installation, and performance art, investigating Indigenous beauty, the body, the socio-political and the spiritual. Her work has been shown globally in exhibitions and flm festivals, and she has received numerous awards including the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2020), the Scotiabank Photography Award (2020), the VIVA Award, the Eiteljorg Fellowship, the Hnatyshyn Award, and the YWCA Women of Distinction Award. In 2018, she had a solo survey exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Her new body of work premiered at the inaugural edition of the Toronto Biennial of Art, Toronto ON. Claxton is Head and a Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory with the University of British Columbia. She is a member of Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations located in SW Saskatchewan and she resides in Vancouver, Canada.
Skeena Reece is a Tsimshian/ Gitksan and Cree artist based on the West Coast of British Columbia. She has garnered national and international attention most notably for Raven: On the Colonial Fleet (2010), her bold installation and performance work presented as part of the celebrated group exhibition Beat Nation. Her multidisciplinary practice includes performance art, spoken word, humor, “sacred clowning,” writing, singing, songwriting, video, and visual art. She studied media arts at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, and was the recipient of the British Columbia award for Excellence in the Arts (2012) and the Viva Award (2014). For her work on Savage (2010) by Lisa Jackson, Reece won a Leo Award for Best Actress. Reece participated in the 17th Sydney Biennale, Australia, and recent exhibitions include Comox Valley Art Gallery (2018) and Oboro Gallery, Montréal (2017).
Nadia Chaney is a spoken word poet and community arts facilitator who has appeared on hundreds of stages. Her essays and poetry have recently appeared or will appear with Terrain.org, Locked Horn Press, Flycatcher Journal and the Chicago Quarterly Review. She is one of the first commissioned writers for House House Press. In 2018 she directed an interdisciplinary project (dance, music poetry, animation) based on a series of 300 automatic drawings. She is a first generation Indian-Canadian born in Saskatoon, grown up in Ottawa, matured in Vancouver currently in Montreal all of which she recognizes as the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples who are its rightful stewards.
Episode 17.1 A described tour of Meydan
A bonus episode to accompany Episode 17. In this episode, artist Derya Akay and educator Stephanie Bokenfohr lead a described tour of Meydan.
Derya Akay is a Vancouver artist working in sculpture, photography, installation and performance whose installation, Meydan, is on view at The Polygon until August 1. Stephanie Bokenfohr is an arts educator and independent producer focused on performance and access,and is the Public Programs Coordinator at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Find out more about this episode here: https://bit.ly/3jX27VT
Episode 17 featuring Derya Akay and Stephanie Bokenfohr
In this episode, artist Derya Akay is in conversation with educator Stephanie Bokenfohr about Akay’s exhibition Meydan.
Derya Akay is a Vancouver artist working in sculpture, photography, installation and performance whose installation, Meydan, is on view at The Polygon until August 1. Stephanie Bokenfohr is an arts educator and independent producer focused on performance and access,and is the Public Programs Coordinator at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Find out more about this episode here: https://bit.ly/3jX27VT
Episode 16 featuring Esteban Pérez and Aaron Nelson-Moody / Tawx’sin Yexwulla
In this episode: a conversation between artists Esteban Pérez and Aaron Nelson-Moody that was inspired by Pérez’s participation in Response: Our Land Narrative.
Find out more about this episode here: https://bit.ly/3vNcoGl
Esteban Pérez (b. 1992, Quito, Ecuador) has been part of exhibitions such as: ‘Triplete’ (No lugar, 2018), ‘dissipare’ (Khora, 2018), and Premio Brasil (Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, 2017). In 2020, he was the recipient of The Audain Travel Award in Vancouver. In the same year, he won the 2nd Place Award in RAW, an MFA online exhibition, organized by the University of Montana, USA. He was selected for the Premio Brasil–Arte Emergente (CAC), an award funded by the Brazilian embassy in Quito for the promotion of emerging contemporary artists. In 2019, he had his first solo show Transitory (Más Arte, 2019). Currently, he is pursuing an MFA degree at Emily Carr University of Arts + Design in Vancouver, BC.
Aaron Nelson-Moody / Tawx’sin Yexwulla (Squamish) is an educator who has worked to rekindle Coast Salish art and culture, and also share important traditions of intercultural connection in schools and through community projects. He currently works as an Instructor in the Department of Fine Arts at Langara College where he teaches Indigenous woodcarving, and maintains his own artistic practice.
Episode 15 featuring Susan Bright and Denise Wolff
In this episode, The Polygon’s Director Reid Shier is in conversation with Feast for the Eyes curators Susan Bright and Denise Wolff. Feast for the Eyes is on now at The Polygon until May 30.
Dr. Susan Bright is a curator and writer based in London. In 2007 she co-curated How We Are at Tate Britain. In the same year she curated Face of Fashion at the National Portrait Gallery. Other exhibitions include: Home Truths at The Photographers’ Gallery and the Foundling Museum (2014). In 2019, Bright was guest curator for PHotoESPAÑA, and is currently co-curator of f/stop 9: Festival für Fotografie Leipzig. She has authored seven books – Photography Decoded; Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography; Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood; Auto Focus; How We Are: Photographing Britain; Face of Fashion and Art Photography Now.
Denise Wolff is senior editor at Aperture. Prior to Aperture, she was the commissioning editor for photography at Phaidon Press in London. Among the books she has commissioned and edited are, The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip by David Campany and Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography by Susan Bright (for which she co-curated the accompanying exhibitions); Girl Pictures by Justine Kurland; The Colors We Share by Angélica Dass; and Eyes Open: 23 Photography Projects for Curious Kids by Susan Meiselas. Wolff also spearheads Aperture’s Photography Workshop Series.
Episode 14 featuring Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes and Maya Beaudry
In this episode, The Polygon's Assistant Curator Justin Ramsey is in conversation with artists Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes and Maya Beaudry about their exhibition Everything Leaks.
Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes (b.1991, Hong Kong) is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in photography, but whose mediums also encompass sculpture and music. Recent exhibitions include Open Heart, Run Off, Sibling Gallery, Toronto; and Green Glass Door, Trapp Projects, Vancouver. Other projects include a current public art commission with the City of Vancouver’s Platforms 2020 program, as well as a forthcoming exhibition with Cuedlice Brazelton at Blinkers, Winnipeg, in July 2021. Kriangwiwat Holmes holds a BFA in Photography from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and was the 2017 recipient of the Philip B. Lind Prize.
Maya Beaudry (b. 1988, Vancouver) received a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2013 and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2017. She has exhibited work in Vancouver, Montréal, St. John’s, and Los Angeles, with solo exhibitions in Berlin and Marseille. She was the recipient of the Hnatyshyn Foundation William and Meredith Saunderson Prize for Emerging Artists, the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts/CD Howe Award, and has participated in residencies at Triangle France in Marseille and September Spring at the Kesey Farm. She lives and works on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Everything Leaks is on view at The Polygon until February 7.
Episode 13 featuring Davide Quadrio and Xin Wang
In this episode, Third Realm curator Davide Quadrio is in conversation with writer and art historian Xin Wang about the challenges of presenting contemporary Asian art as well as the Buddhist themes in our current exhibition Third Realm.
Find out more about this episode here: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-13-featuring-davide-quadrio-and-xin-wang/
Read Xin Wang's Cyclical Gods Reliving The Pandemic in Momus: https://momus.ca/cyclical-gods-reliving-pandemic/
Davide Quadrio is a producer and curator based in China and Italy. He is the founder of the first not-for-profit independent creative lab in Shanghai, BizArt Center, a platform to foster the local contemporary art scene. In 2007 he created Arthub, a production and curatorial proxy active in Asia and worldwide. Quadrio has organized hundreds of exhibitions, educational activities and exchanges in China and abroad. Recent curatorial projects include “Visions in the Making” at the Italian Cultural Center, New Delhi and Zhang Enli at Galleria Borghese, Rome.
Xin Wang is a writer, curator and art historian based in New York. Currently a Ph.D. candidate in modern and contemporary art at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and the Joan Tisch Teaching Fellow at the Whitney Museum, where she has conducted Art History from Home webinars about technology, Asian/American perspectives, and social change. She is the curator of numerous exhibitions in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and her latest writings have appeared in Art in America, Art Agenda, E-Flux Journal, and Artforum. She is currently planning an exhibition that explores Asian Futurisms for the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City.
Episode 12 featuring Davide Quadrio and Farah Wardani
In this episode, curator Davide Quadrio is in conversation with curator and writer Farah Wardani about contemporary art in Asia and The Polygon's current exhibition Third Realm.
Find out more about this episode here: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-12-featuring-davide-quadrio-and-farah-wardani/
Episode 11 featuring The Archivists
In this episode: a conversation between two professional archivists that was inspired by the launch of our new chapbook, co-published with Information Office, about the early history of the local Chilean community.
Find out more about this episode here:
https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-10-featuring-the-archivists/
View Parallels 02 here:
https://thepolygon.ca/news/parallels-02-north-valparaiso/
Episode 10 featuring Little Chamber Music
In this episode, The Gallery’s Assistant Curator Justin Ramsey is in conversation with Little Chamber Music artistic director Mark Haney, and composer Rita Ueda about the upcoming musical program Human Shadow Etched in Stone.
Find out more about this episode here: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-10-featuring-little-chamber-music
Episode 9 featuring Mark Ruwedel and John O'Brian
In this episode, a conversation between photographer Mark Ruwedel and art historian John O'Brian.
Find out more about this episode here: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-9-featuring-mark-ruwedel-and-john-obrian/
Episode 8 featuring Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft
In this episode, The Gallery's Chief Curator Helga Pakasaar is in conversation with art patrons Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft.
Find out more about this episode: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-8-featuring-claudia-beck-and-andrew-gruft
Episode 7 featuring Cease and Senaqwila Wyss
On this episode, a conversation between two ethnobotanists: Cease Wyss and her daughter Senaqwila Wyss.
Find out more about this episode: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-7-featuring-cease-and-senaqwila-wyss/
Episode 6 featuring Faith Moosang on C.D. Hoy
On this episode, The Polygon Gallery’s manager Diane Evans and curator Faith Moosang are in conversation about the life and work of photographer C.D. Hoy. The gallery mounted the exhibition First Son: Portraits by C.D. Hoy in 1999.
Find out more about this episode:
https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-6-featuring-faith-moosang-on-c-d-hoy
Episode artwork: C.D. Hoy, Chief William Charleyboy and his wife, Elainie Charleyboy (Redstone). (P1583). Courtesy Barkerville Historic Town
Episode 5: Patkau Architects
This week’s podcast features The Polygon’s Director Reid Shier in conversation with architects Patricia and John Patkau. Patkau Architects, founded in 1978 by this wife-husband team, recently won their nineteenth Governor General’s Medal in architecture for the design of The Polygon Gallery. Patricia and John have won numerous other awards, and are members of the Order of Canada.
Find out more about this episode: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-5-featuring-patkau-architects/
Episode Art: Attilio Fiumarella
Episode 4: Global Warning
On the latest episode of The Polygon Podcast, Justin Ramsey, the Gallery’s Assistant Curator, is in conversation with Dorothy Dong, Tiffany Pai, Sally Sapinski, and Asalah Youssef—all Chester Fields 2020: Global Warning finalists from Fort Langley Fine Arts School.
Find out more about this episode here: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-4-global-warning
Episode Art: Simon Burns, SoCal 2050
Episode 3: Marsha Lederman
On the third episode of The Polygon Podcast, The Globe and Mail’s Western Arts Correspondent, Marsha Lederman, talks with the Gallery’s marketing manager, Michael Mann.
Find out more about Marsha and this episode here: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-3-featuring-marsha-lederman/
Episode Art: Moyra Davey, Newsstand No. 3, 1994
Episode 2: Dave Gunawan
On the second episode of The Polygon Podcast, The Gallery’s Director Reid Shier is in conversation with chef Dave Gunawan of Ubuntu Canteen.
Learn more about this episode here: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-2-featuring-dave-gunawan/
Episode 1: Jonah Samson
On the first episode of The Polygon Podcast, Audain Chief Curator Helga Pakasaar is in conversation with artist Jonah Samson.
Learn more about this episode here: https://thepolygon.ca/news/the-polygon-podcast-episode-1-featuring-jonah-samson/