Abbas Akhavan

The work of Abbas Akhavan takes shape across a range of media and forms. From sculpture and installation to drawing, performance and video, Akhavan’s practice is anchored deeply in the specificities of the sites and spaces he engages. Often open-ended, ephemeral or mimetic in nature, Akhavan’s works frequently traffic in slippages and transferences — between public and private, presence and absence, structural and symbolic.

At the Contemporary Art Gallery, Akhavan presents *cast for a folly* (2019/2022), an installation that takes as its point of departure a photograph of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad: an image of the museum’s lobby taken following its unprecedented looting during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Through sculpture, custom-fabricated furniture and found objects, amongst other forms, Akhavan recreates this scene in the gallery from the single vantage point of his source image. Adjacent to this installation is a new work composed of flower fridges — *untitled* (2022) — a continuation of Akhavan’s ongoing engagement with plant life as both index to and instrument of broader social economies. 


*cast for a folly* (2019/2022) was originally curated by Kim Nguyen and commissioned by CCA Wattis Institute.

### Biography
Abbas Akhavan lives and works in Montréal. Recent solo exhibitions include Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute (2022), Chisenhale Gallery, London (2021); CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco (2019); Fogo Island Gallery, Fogo Island, (2019); and VIE D'ANGE, Montréal (2018). Group exhibitions include Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2022); Momenta Biennale at Phi Foundation, Montreal (2021); Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2018); SALT Galata, Istanbul (2017); Sharjah Biennial 13, United Arab Emirates (2017); and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016). He is the recipient of the Fellbach Triennial Award (2017); Sobey Art Award (2015); Abraaj Group Art Prize (2014); and the Berliner Kunstpreis (2012).

Extended text - Abbas Akhavan.pdf

ProgramGuideSummer2022.pdf

CAG_AbbasAkhavan_ExhibitionGuide.pdf

CAG_AbbasAkhavan_ExhibitionGuide_LargePrint.pdf

thumbnail_abbas akhavan cast for a folly.jpg

abbas akhavan cast for a folly.jpg

cast for a folly

Michelle Bui

Bringing both a painterly and sculptural approach to her photographic practice, Montreal-based artist Michelle Bui operates within the visual language of the still life. Working with an array of everyday, seemingly unremarkable materials, Bui creates assemblages for the camera, building alluring scenes through processes of accumulating, merging, manipulating, and resituating. 
 
In *Mutable Materialism*, an exhibition presented on the CAG façade and at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station, Bui offers two new suites of images, each a reflection on the relationships between sense, sensation and desire. Whether referencing the seductive language of advertising, the tactility of the touch-screen, or the conventions of commercial packaging and display, Bui’s works engage and confuse, coaxing incongruous forms into conversation with one another to invite reflection on the ways we connect with and consume objects and images alike.
 
### Biography

Michelle Bui is a Montreal-based artist working in photography and sculpture. Her research revolves around the inseparable conjuncture between material culture and identity, opening it to a shifted place where sensory identity can unfold. Recent solo exhibitions include *Objects for an Audience*, Galerie Rad Hourani, Montreal (2020); *Spilled Plenitude*, Franz Kaka, Toronto (2020); *Centerfold*, Parisian Laundry, Montreal (2019); *Plein Soleil*, Circa, Montreal (2019); *Pool of Plenty*, Galerie de l'UQAM, Montreal (2018). Her work was also included in group shows at Maison de la culture Claude-Léveillée, Montreal; Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University, Newark; Projet Pangée, Montreal; and Vu Photo, Quebec City. Bui completed her MA at Université du Québec à Montréal and at Beaux-arts de Paris, and her BFA at Concordia University.

### Acknowledgements

*Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism* is produced in partnership with Capture Photography Festival. The project is co-curated by Julia Lamare, Acting Associate Curator, Contemporary Art Gallery and Chelsea Yuill, Assistant Curator, Capture Photography Festival. Works at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station are presented in partnership with the Canada Line Public Art Program – InTransit BC.


![capture and intransit.png](https://cag-cms-cdn.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/strapi-uploads/9982fe0167b556993e09b2b4a6b85455.png)

ProgramGuideWinter2022.pdf

CAG_MichelleBui_ExhibitionGuide_Mobile_P1.pdf

CAG_MichelleBui_ExhibitionGuide_LargePrint.pdf

A photographic work by Michelle Bui. Diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. Sparse flowers and petals are sprinkled across the picture plane.

thumbnail_CAG_001_SecondSkin_AdobeRGB_2000px.jpg

CAG_001_SecondSkin_AdobeRGB_2000px.jpg

A view of the Contemporary Art Gallery building from across the street. The windows are  covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colour,  indecipherable plant matter and wrinkled plastics. 

thumbnail_1-01 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

1-01 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

An askance view of the outside of CAG. Vinyl photographs, depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter appearing beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film cover the windows. 

thumbnail_2-02 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

2-02 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

An exterior view of three of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. 

thumbnail_3-04 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

3-04 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

thumbnail_4-05 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

4-05 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

An exterior view of two of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. 

thumbnail_5-07 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

5-07 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

A corner view of Yaletown-Roundhouse train station covered entirely in seven large-scale, colourful still-life photographs. The images depict a variety of singular flowers with various objects. 

thumbnail_6-08 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

6-08 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

Two large-scale still life photographs printed in vinyl cover an entire side of Yaletown-Roundhouse station. The images depict singular flowers with various objects on pink and brown backgrounds. 

thumbnail_7-09 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

7-09 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

thumbnail_10 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

10 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

Mutable Materialism

Sara Farhan

[RSVP](https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/talk-sara-farhan-archive-fever-tickets-367819848067 "button")

In conjunction with Abbas Akhavan's exhibition *cast for a folly*, scholar Sara Farhan will deliver a talk drawn from her current research "Archive Fever." This project repositions Freud’s *Thanatos* (death drive) as interpreted by Jacques Derrida to contextualize the feverish obsession with "recovering" and "restoring" archives in regions experiencing conflict, specifically Iraq. Farhan frames this process as an orientalist pursuit to command historical narratives through the restructuring and transplanting of archives in occidental spaces.

### RSVP
This event is free; advanced registration is encouraged. RSVP to secure your seat [here](https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/talk-sara-farhan-archive-fever-tickets-367819848067).

### Biography
Sara Farhan is a social and cultural historian of the modern Middle East. She is an assistant professor at the Department of History at the University of Northern British Columbia. Her research traces the history of medicine, science, and technology in the modern Middle East, as well as the ethical and political implications of archives and cultural material acquisition.

A portrait of Sara Farhan. She’s smiling at the camera.

thumbnail_Sara Farhan.jpeg

Sara Farhan.jpeg

Sara Farhan, "Archive Fever"

Talk

Debbie C.

[RSVP](https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/open-studio-ghosts-pigments-and-plastics-with-debbie-c-tickets-366138990577 "button")

Open Studio is a monthly program for young visitors and families inspired by contemporary art practices and CAG’s current exhibitions. Please join us for an art-making workshop led by artist Debbie C. Inspired by CAG’s current exhibition with Michelle Bui, *Mutable Materialism*, Debbie will guide participants through the process of ghost printing. Using materials such as plastic wrap and dried flowers, participants will make layered prints that use the same block to repeat an image multiple times. 

### RSVP
Registration for this event is free, but limited. RSVP to secure your place [here](https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/open-studio-ghosts-pigments-and-plastics-with-debbie-c-tickets-366138990577).

### Biography
Debbie C. is an artist from Singapore whose practice is informed by their time working as a graphic designer. Their creative process involves photographing items they own and the places they dwell in, in an effort to anchor themselves through those objects and spaces. Their artworks minimize the importance of the object, replacing it with the importance of an idea or a social relation. Debbie bases their ideas on *Shinto*, a religion rooted in Japanese culture, with a focus in particular on *Tsukumogami*, a collective term given to household objects that have existed for at least a hundred years and are believed to have become sentient.

A portrait of Debbie C. Debbie is wearing a black shirt and is seated in front of a white wall.

thumbnail_Debbie C. headshot, Photo credit_ Sena Cleave.jpg

Debbie C. headshot, Photo credit_ Sena Cleave.jpg

Ghosts, Pigments and Plastics with Debbie C.

Open Studio

Alex Gibson

One Saturday each month, CAG invites a guest host to lead walkthroughs of our current exhibitions, offering their insights and response to the works on view. In July, we welcome Alex Gibson to speak on the work of Michelle Bui. 

No advance registration required for this event.

### Biography
Alex Gibson is a queer, non-binary Barbadian artist whose practice explores posthumanist thought and transgressive queer identities in relation to their Caribbean background. Their work has been exhibited at Capture Photography Festival (Vancouver), Wil Aballe Art Projects (Vancouver), Tomato Mouse (New York), Number 3 Gallery (Vancouver), Caribbean Fine Arts Fair (Bridgetown, Barbados), Artists Alliance Barbados (Bridgetown, Barbados), RBC Media Gallery (Vancouver). Gibson currently lives and works in Vancouver, BC, on the stolen and ancestral lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.

A selfie of Alex Gibson in a gallery space, shot in a mirrored artwork. They are wearing a black long-sleeved shirt.

thumbnail_alexgibson_headshot.jpg

alexgibson_headshot.jpg

Alex Gibson on Michelle Bui

Saturday Session

Esteban Pérez

[RSVP](https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UpIFEsaoQkygG9v1tkRbCQ "button")

Join us for an artist talk with recent WEDGE resident Esteban Pérez. Esteban will offer an overview of his recent work, including the projects he initiated during and since his time in residence with CAG and Ground Floor.

### Biography
Esteban Pérez (b. 1992 in Quito, Ecuador) graduated from Emily Carr University of Art + Design with an MFA degree in 2021. Recent and forthcoming presentations of his work include the New York Latin American Art Triennial (2022); The Polygon, Vancouver (2021); Libby Leshgold Gallery, Vancouver (2021); and Más Arte, Quito (2019). In 2021, he was an artist in residence at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, and at the Similkameen Studio Residency organized by Griffin Arts Projects. In 2017, he was selected for the Premio Brasil–Arte Emergente (CAC), an award funded by the Brazilian embassy in Quito for the promotion of emerging artists. He was also the recipient of the 2020 Audain Travel Award.

### RSVP
This event is free. RSVP to secure your seat [here](https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UpIFEsaoQkygG9v1tkRbCQ).

### CART Captions

This event will be live captioned (CART). For more information please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org).

thumbnail_Esteban-Perez-007-ECU-2020-10-14 Shot.jpg

Esteban-Perez.jpg

Qian Cheng

[RSVP](https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvdOygrDMjHN19fFouXEVgywCttVgXHuzx "button")

We are pleased to announce our latest installment of CAG Reads, a book club where artists invite us to read alongside them. Each month an artist proposes text for our collective reading pleasure, culminating in a virtual hangout where the artist leads a wide-ranging discussion grounded in their chosen reading material. This month, CAG Reads will be hosted by Qian Cheng. Qian has chosen to read *Grandma’s Story* by Trinh T. Minh-ha.

Qian Cheng is an artist interested in collaborative artistic interventions that provide generative solutions and perspectives. Cheng’s work is guided by her lived experience as a first-generation Chinese Canadian, exploring the threshold between art and life while building artistic agency and self-determination.

### Getting the texts
Access to *Grandma’s Story* by Trinh T. Minh-ha will be provided upon registration.

### RSVP
Registration for this event is free, but limited. RSVP to secure your place [here](https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvdOygrDMjHN19fFouXEVgywCttVgXHuzx).

Questions? Send us a note at [cagreads@cagvancouver.org](mailto:cagreads@cagvancouver.org).

### CART Captions
This event will be live captioned (CART). For more information please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org).

### ASL interpretation
ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.


A portrait of Qian Cheng lying across the orange seats of a subway car. Qian is wearing a brown turtleneck sweater that is covering her chin. One of her arms is stretched behind her head holding an iPhone; the other is holding two tote bags.

thumbnail_Qian is Sleeping - hi res.JPG

Qian is Sleeping - hi res.JPG

Qian Cheng presents Trinh T. Minh-ha

CAG Reads

Join CAG’s Acting Associate Curator Julia Lamare for a guided tour of the current exhibitions, including *Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism*. 

No advance registration required for this event.

with Julia Lamare

Curatorial Tour

Each season, CAG releases a series of Video Visits that offer short takes on our exhibitions. Presented in five languages — Cantonese, English, French, Mandarin and Spanish — these videos present a variety of perspectives on the work of Michelle Bui. Abbas Akhavan's Video Visit will be available soon.

### English Video Visits
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710905302)

### Visites vidéo en français
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710906082)

### Visitas de video en español
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710907396)

### 普通话视频之旅
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710906715)

### 粵語視頻參觀
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710904722)

Exhibitions

Talks & Events