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Contemporary Art Gallery

555 Nelson Street
Vancouver, Canada
Open from Tuesday to
Sunday 12 pm → 6 pm

Admission always free
ArchiveExhibition
8 Sep 06until5 Nov 06

Concrete Language

Michael Baers, Fiona Banner, Filipa César, Martin Creed, Antonia Hirsch, Denise Oleksijczuk, Ian Grais, Vibeke Tandberg, Ron Terada, Ian Wallace, Lawrence Weiner, Laurel Woodcock, Cerith Wyn Evans, YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, Elizabeth Zvonar

B.C. Binning Gallery, Alvin Balkind Gallery and CAG Façade

A photograph of a busy city street corner hangs on a white gallery wall. A strip of yellow paint runs down the left side of the photograph.

Concrete Language brings together contemporary artworks that explore visual and spatial relations in language. The project is conceived to examine the visual dynamics of language, creating a contemplative moment that is outside the way we commonly use or view language. Each of the artists in this international group exhibition builds relations between text and visual material that move beyond typical discursive or diagrammatic functions. Instead, the artists meld word and image to locate meaning at the meeting point, leveling the site of impact by creating an overt and immediate interdependence between what is being said and how it is visually perceived. The presentation of language is not used to emphasize meaning, but to create layers of meaning that unfold spatially over time and form a relation between language and space, creating a lull where perception is essential in establishing meaning.

Concrete Language is sponsored by Donovan, Yaletown Contemporary Homes by Cressey.