Vanessa Kwan

Vanessa Kwan is an art curator and artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada who believes in collaborative, site-specific and cross-disciplinary practices.[1]

Background

Kwan was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland.[2] She graduated from Emily Carr University in 2004.[3]

Curatorial

Kwan's curatorial work includes positions held at the Richmond Art Gallery, British Columbia,[4] the Vancouver Art Gallery and grunt gallery, Vancouver where they were Curator (2014-2019) and then in 2019, Program director.[5] According to Kwan, their role as a curator often "consists of producing artist projects that engage with the community, are site-specific, and are generally not situated inside the gallery."[6] Kwan elaborates that they are interested in "art practices that are not focused solely on the gallery, but might be produced elsewhere."[6]

Kwan is a member of Other Sights for Artist's Projects, a public art collective in Vancouver. Kwan is also a founding member of Norma public art collective that began while they were studying at Emily Carr University.

In addition to these artistic and curatorial activities, Kwan works closely with Vancouver-based artists, Hannah Jickling and Helen Reed on Big Rock Candy Mountain,[7] a project initiated in early 2015.[4]

In 2022, they were chosen as Director + Curator, Gallery + Exhibitions at Emily Carr University (ECU) in charge of the Libby Leshgold Gallery and other university exhibition spaces and venues, as well as READ Books, ECU Press, the ECU Art Collection and the university’s outdoor screen.[5]

Artistic practice

Kwan created Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver, a public art work for the 2010 Winter Olympics.[8]

In 2013, Kwan created an interactive piece entitled Everything Between Open and Closed, a work that was temporarily sited at the Bob Prittie Burnaby Public Library as a part of its KIOSK event. For that project, the artist occupied the kiosk for two weeks creating signs that were posted on the walls of the kiosk, as a means of interacting with the community space.[9]

Residencies

In 2017, Kwan completed a post residency in Visual + Digital Arts at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, Calgary, and received the Post Residency Award from the Banff Centre for Residency.[10]

References
  1. "New public art works that engage the senses coming to Vancouver". Vancouver Sun. 2017-12-20. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  2. "Vanessa Kwan". vucavu.com. VUCAVU. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  3. "Vanessa Kwan Fosters Potential for Boundless New Worlds". www.ecuad.ca. ECU. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  4. "Something about Love | Richmond Art Gallery | Richmond, BC, Canada". www.richmondartgallery.org. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  5. "Vanessa Kwan Named Director + Curator of the Libby Leshgold Gallery at Emily Carr University". www.ecuad.ca. ECU. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  6. Argueta, Fiorela (2018). "A Conversation With A Curator". CiTR Discorder Magazine. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
  7. "Home". bigrockcandymountain.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  8. "Geyser for Hillcrest Park makes invisible water systems visible—and playful". Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  9. "KIOSK". www.burnaby.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  10. "Post Residency Award". banffcentre.ca. 9 March 2018.
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