Below the Radar

Artist and comedian Kira Nova joins us this week on Below the Radar. Alongside our host Am Johal, they chat about growing up in the circus, clowning, experimental pedagogy, and Kira’s psychedelic clown workshops. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/240-kira-nova.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/240-kira-nova.html Resources: Kira’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kira.nova_/?hl=en Psychedelic Clown Workshops: http://clownsonacid.tilda.ws/ Bio: Kira Nova is a world renowned artist, comedian and producer whose credits include the MoMa and the MET. Over the past 10 years she has created 5 solo shows and curated a number of variety theater productions. Among which was a show she created with Michael Portnoy and Reggie Watts — “Alligators! Experimental Comedy Lab”, presented in The Netherlands and Belgium. Nova has presented her breed of one-woman shows at such venues as MoMa PS1, MET Breuer, The Kitchen in New York; Center Pompidou in Paris, Royal Academy Theater in London, Art Basel in Basel among many. While as a comedian Nova performed in many venues around NY, which include productions at The Box and House of Yes. For the past 10 years, Nova has been leading workshops and teaching at many North American and European Art Academies, that include: Columbia University in New York (US), Banff Center for the Arts in Alberta (Canada), Paul Klee Center in Basel (Switzerland), Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), de Appel Curatorial Program in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel (Germany), Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). Since 2013, Nova works as a professor at Lunds University (Sweden). Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Clowns on Acid — with Kira Nova.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, April 23, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/240-kira-nova.html.

This week on Below the Radar, we’re joined by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim, co-creators of the participatory videogame performance asses.masses. The show recently wrapped up a run at Vancouver’s PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Patrick and Milton discuss the show’s development, videogames as performance, and what they’ve discovered as they’ve toured the piece. Find out more and get tickets for their upcoming performances at https://www.assesmasses.work/performances Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/239-patrick-blenkarn-milton-lim.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/239-patrick-blenkarn-milton-lim.html Resources: asses.masses: https://www.assesmasses.work/ Patrick Blenkarn: https://patrickblenkarn.com/ Milton Lim: https://www.miltonlim.com/ culturecapital: https://www.culturecapital.cards/ Bio: Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim are conceptual artists exploring urgent questions around the social value of art, digital labour, and the political potential of games. Mixing their backgrounds in performance, philosophy, psychology, and digital media, their collaborations have manifested in video games, participatory installations, digital archives, and card games. In addition to asses.masses, Patrick and Milton are also the co-founders of the Canadian national video archive of performance (videocan) and the co-creators behind a performing arts economy trading card game (culturecapital). Their projects have been presented across Canada, as well as in Argentina, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, in English, French, and Spanish. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Walters, Samantha. “Ass Power — with Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, April 9, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/239-patrick-blenkarn-milton-lim.html.

This week, we’re sharing an episode from our friends at FCAT After School. FCAT After School is a podcast project led by student hosts from across SFU’s Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology speaking with alumni about their career journey since graduation. You’ll hear stories of and advice for traditional and unconventional career paths across communication, interactive arts and technology, contemporary arts, publishing and digital media. What does it mean to fail and succeed at the same time? How can one offer joy as a form of activism? What is the purpose of comedy in 2024? In this episode, host Torien Cafferata explores these questions with SFU School for the Contemporary Arts alum June Fukumura, an interdisciplinary theatre artist, clown, and comedian. June has appeared on the Arts Club stage, in film and TV, and an award-winning Fringe Festival solo show. Together she and Torien explore how, in June’s line of work, failure is very much a form of success — and re-enchanting the everyday can happen both on and off the stage. To learn more about June’s work, check out her website: junefukumura.com or Instagram: @june.fukumura Find full episode transcripts and more info on FCAT After School: sfu.ca/fcat/news/podcast.html To learn more about SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, Theatre & Performance BFA: sfu.ca/sca/programs/theatre-performance.html Follow SFU's FCAT on social media: Twitter: twitter.com/FCATatSFU Instagram: instagram.com/fcatatsfu Linkedin: linkedin.com/school/fcatatsfu Facebook: facebook.com/FCATatSFU

On this episode of Below the Radar, we’re joined by Ania Malinowska, hypnotherapist, cultural theorist and Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. We discuss Ania’s scholarly practice, love, and how Ania found herself being trained in hypnosis. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/238-ania-malinowska.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/238-ania-malinowska.html Resources: Ania Malinowska: https://aniamalinowska.com/ The Unhappy Ending Project: https://unhappyendingproject.com/ Hypnotic AI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhptkULpzkk Data Dating: https://www.datadating.online/ Love in Contemporary Technoculture: https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/love-in-contemporary-technoculture/074FE883A89E836B494D581E7C74A3AB?fbclid=IwAR1Kw7BqgQ8sdCZRMmz80YHApzetCqdjg6h43Zoq3wT8Yt0SmB3GJcNH00A The Materiality of Love: https://www.routledge.com/The-Materiality-of-Love-Essays-on-Affection-and-Cultural-Practice/Malinowska-Gratzke/p/book/9780367886639 Bio: Ania Malinowska is a cultural theorist, poet and author. She is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice (Institute of Culture Studies and Centre for Critical Technology Studies), and a former Senior Fulbright Fellow at The New School in New York. Malinowska’s work is associated with critical posthumanism and cultural semiotics, gathering approaches from media and cultural studies, anthropology, philosophy of technology, and digital humanities. Her critical writing focuses on technologically shaped love practices and emotional traditions under digitalism. A licensed hypnotist and an author of fiction and poetry, Malinowska is a proponent of textrapolation, a method of poetic experimentation based on intuitive assemblage she employs for her cutout and stamp poems. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “The Art of Love, Hypnosis, and AI.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, March 26, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/238-ania-malinowska.html.

Curator, writer, and educator Moroti George joins our host Am Johal on this episode of Below the Radar. Moroti is the curator at The Black Arts Centre in Surrey, BC and the Director/Curator of Gallery Gachet in downtown Vancouver. Together, they chat about how Moroti became interested in the arts, their experience working in two different art spaces, and their approach to curating in Greater Vancouver. s Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/237-moroti-george.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/237-moroti-george.html Resources: Gallery Gachet: https://gachet.org/ Gallery Gachet’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gallerygachet/ The Black Arts Centre: https://theblackartscentre.ca/ The Black Arts Centre’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackartscentre/ See How We Run! Art as Agency, Autonomy and Community — with Demi London and Moroti George: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/229-art-as-agency-autonomy-and-community.html Bio: Olumoroti (MorotiI) Soji-George (he/they) is a curator, writer and educator based in Vancouver, BC. He is the curator at the Black Arts Centre in Surrey, BC and the Director/Curator of Gallery Gachet in downtown Vancouver. Olumoroti's curatorial practice primarily involves unravelling and demystifying the ways Blackness is embodied and codified in our shared milieu and conceptualizing the works of Black Contemporary artists and their contributions to the Black cultural lexicon and our understanding of the state of Blackness. His research and curatorial practice also involve envisioning accessible and community-centred art spaces and highlighting the stories of individuals and communities who construct new ways of being that challenge the Western status quo. At the core of his practice is the belief that space could be used to reflect the agency and lived experiences of individuals whose bodies and identities are not typically valued, respected and represented in traditional art and academic settings. Through an exploration of language, the archive, lens-based works, history and cultural theory, Olumoroti's curatorial practice is grounded in a passion for non-hierarchical epistemological production that could contribute to the creation of a pathway where new approaches to cultural production and the politics that fuel the ways different bodies perceive and understand the world could emerge. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Community-Centred Curating — with Moroti George .” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, March 12, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/237-moroti-george.html.

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Glen Clark, who was formerly premier of British Columbia, as well as president and chief operating officer of the Jim Pattison Group in Vancouver. Glen discusses his political career, from his time in labour movements to the legislative assembly, and further on to how he exited politics and got into working with corporate titan Jim Pattison. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/236-glen-clark.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/236-glen-clark.html Resources: Glen Clark 1996 Cabinet: https://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/reference/clarkcabinet.pdf The Jim Pattison Group: https://www.jimpattison.com/ Bio: Glen Clark is a senior advisor to Rogers Communications and Tiny Ltd. Prior to that he was the President and COO of The Jim Pattison Group. Mr. Clark is also a member of the Board of Directors of Westshore Terminals Investment Corporation, an export terminal company and Tersa Earth, a small biotechnology startup. Prior to his corporate roles, Mr. Clark served as Premier of British Columbia, Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations, and Minister of Employment and Investment. Mr. Clark was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in 1986 to represent the constituency of Vancouver-East. In the 1991 and 1996 general elections, he was re-elected to represent the constituency of Vancouver-Kingsway. Mr. Clark holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University, and a master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of British Columbia. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Glen Clark: Main Street vs. Howe Street — with Glen Clark.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, March 5, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/236-glen-clark.html.

This week on Below the Radar, we are joined by T.J. Demos, Professor in the Department of the History of Art and Visual Culture at University of California, Santa Cruz, and Director of its Center for Creative Ecologies. Together, they chat about TJ’s book, Radical Futurisms: Ecologies of Collapse, Chronopolitics, and Justice-to-Come. They also discuss the question of climate justice in visual culture, green capitalism, and fossil fascism. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/235-tj-demos.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/235-tj-demos.html Resources: T. J.'s website: https://tjdemos.sites.ucsc.edu Center for Creative Ecologies: https://creativeecologies.ucsc.edu Radical Futurisms: Ecologies of Collapse, Chronopolitics, and Justice-to-Come: https://www.sternberg-press.com/product/radical-futurisms/ Against the Anthropocene: Visual Culture and Environment Today: :https://www.sternberg-press.com/product/against-the-anthropocene-visual-culture-and-environment-today/ Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9783956790942/decolonizing-nature/ T.J. Demos Essays: https://ucsc.academia.edu/TjDemos Bio: T. J. Demos is the Patricia and Rowland Rebele Endowed Chair in Art History in the Department of the History of Art and Visual Culture, at University of California, Santa Cruz, and founding Director of its Center for Creative Ecologies. Demos is the author of several books, including Against the Anthropocene: Visual Culture and Environment Today (Sternberg Press, 2017); Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology (Sternberg Press, 2016); The Migrant Image: The Art and Politics of Documentary During Global Crisis (Duke University Press, 2013) – winner of the College Art Association’s 2014 Frank Jewett Mather Award – and Return to the Postcolony: Spectres of Colonialism in Contemporary Art (Sternberg Press, 2013). He recently co-edited The Routledge Companion on Contemporary Art, Visual Culture, and Climate Change (2021), was a Getty Research Institute Fellow (Spring 2020), and directed the Mellon-funded Sawyer Seminar research project Beyond the End of the World (2019-21). Demos was Chair and Chief Curator of the Climate Collective, providing public programming related to the 2021 Climate Emergency > Emergence program at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (Maat) in Lisbon. His new book, Radical Futurisms: Ecologies of Collapse, Chronopolitics, and Justice-to-Come, 2023, is now out from Sternberg Press. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Radical Futurisms — with T.J. Demos.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, February 27, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/235-tj-demos.html.

This week on Below the Radar we’re joined by Sanem Güvenç, a scholar, psychoanalyst, and university professor, as well as co-president of the Vancouver-based psychoanalytic society Lacan Salon. Together they discuss friendship, authoritarianism, teaching, and how Sanem reads the works of various philosophers, with a focus on how she got into Lacan. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/234-sanem-guvenc.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/234-sanem-guvenc.html Resources: Sanem Güvenç: https://www.sanemguvenc.com/ Lacan Salon: https://lacansalon.com/ ECUAD's Critical and Cultural Studies: https://www.ecuad.ca/academics/all-programs/undergraduate-programs/crcp Bio: Sanem Güvenç is an independent scholar based in Vancouver. Her current practice sits at the intersection of social-political theory and psychoanalysis, and works towards carving and mapping possible instances of echoes, dissonances, knottings and alliances in between those two broad fields. She traces these, on the one hand, in the humanities and social science classes she teaches at ECUAD's Critical and Cultural Studies, where she is positioned as a scholar in residence. On the other hand, these tropes are the founding questions of her book manuscript, tentatively titled, Topologies of the Void, where she employs speculative narration and experimental theorizing. Previously she journeyed through twentieth century its beginning and end through politics of eugenics and diseases in the first half of the twentieth century and neoliberal governmentalities at the tail end of it. At the moment, she is acting as the co-president of the Lacan Salon, the Vancouver-based psychoanalytic society that promotes and transmits analytical discourse. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Unhingedness — with Sanem Güvenç.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, February 13, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes234-sanem-guvenc.html.

This week on Below the Radar, we are joined by Travis Holloway: a poet, translator, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Farmingdale, and author of the book How to Live at the End of the World: Theory, Art, and Politics for the Anthropocene (Stanford University Press, 2022). Am and Travis discuss noticing patterns in contemporary art making during the climate crisis. Travis also shares about translating the work of philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, the importance of friendship with all living beings, and the process of publishing a book. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/233-travis-holloway.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/233-travis-holloway.html Donate to Below the Radar: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/donate.html Resources: How to Live at the End of the World: Theory, Art, and Politics for the Anthropocene: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=34552 Read more of Travis's work: https://pratt.academia.edu/TravisHolloway Bio: Travis Holloway grew up queer and working class in a rural factory town affected by free trade and globalization. His most recent book is How to Live at the End of the World: Theory, Art, and Politics for the Anthropocene (Stanford, 2022). Holloway is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Farmingdale and a poet and former Goldwater Fellow in Creative Writing at NYU. He has an M.F.A., Ph.D., and is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Farmingdale, a translator, and a poet and former Goldwater Fellow in Creative Writing at NYU. His primary interests are in contemporary continental philosophy, aesthetics, social and political philosophy, queer theory, and the environmental humanities. His work on these topics has been published in Italy, Turkey, the UK, Columbia, Canada, the Czech Republic, and the U.S. His most recent publications include "Weather" (The Philosopher, 2022), "Philosophy at the End of the World: For a Counterhistory of Human Beings in the Anthropocene" (The Philosopher, 2020), "A Strategy for a Democratic Future" (Tropos, 2019), “Neoliberalism and the Future of Democracy" (Philosophy Today, 2018), and “How to Perform a Democracy” (Epoché, 2017). He is co-translator of three books and several articles by Jean-Luc Nancy, and co-author of several public-facing articles and the book Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action that Changed America (OR Books, 2011). He is currently working on two additional monographs: How to Perform a Democracy; and How to Assemble with All the Living. Holloway has received fellowships from the Fulbright Commission, the DAAD, the Andrew Mellon foundation, and the Max Kade Institute for research and advanced study in Germany, France, and Italy. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “How to Live at the End of the World — with Travis Holloway.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 30, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/233-travis-holloway.html.

On this episode of Below the Radar, we’re joined by John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. Fire Weather is a national best selling book about the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, North America's oil industry, and our new century of fire, which has only just begun. Our host Am Johal and John discuss how John approached the subject, the process of collecting and weaving stories from Fort McMurray, and how the book has been received. John will be joining us for a free public talk on the book on January 31st, 2024! RSVP at https://bit.ly/47YnwDZ Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/232-john-vaillant.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/232-john-vaillant.html Resources: Fire Weather: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/739360/fire-weather-by-john-vaillant/9780735273160 Fire Weather winning the Baillie Gifford Prize 2023: https://www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/year-by-year/2023 Fire Weather on the New York Times Top 10 Books of 2023: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/books/review/best-books-2023.html Bio: John Vaillant is an author and freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and the Guardian, among others. His first book, The Golden Spruce (Knopf, 2005), was a bestseller and won several awards, including the Governor General's and Writers’ Trust awards for non-fiction. His second nonfiction book, The Tiger (Knopf, 2010), won the B.C. Achievement Award for Non-Fiction, was a bestseller selected for Canada Reads, and has been published in 16 languages. In 2014 Vaillant won the Windham-Campbell Prize, a global award for non-fiction. In 2015, he published his first work of fiction, The Jaguar's Children (Knopf, 2015), which was long-listed for the Dublin IMPAC and Kirkus Fiction Prizes, and was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His latest book, Fire Weather (Knopf, 2023), is a #1 national bestseller, and a finalist for the National Book Award (US), the Baillie Gifford Prize (UK), and the Writers‘ Trust Nonfiction Prize. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Fire Weather — with John Vaillant” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 16, 2024. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/232-john-vaillant.html.

On this episode of See How We Run! we’re joined by Hives for Humanity’s co-directors Sarah Common and Cait Hurley to talk about the history of the apicultural organization, its evolution from a supportive prevocational training program to a Community Supported Apiculture model, and the ways they are centering their relationship to the plants and soil in the Hastings Folk Garden in their work. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/231-learning-from-fireweed.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/231-learning-from-fireweed.html Resources: Hives for Humanity: https://www.hivesforhumanity.com/ Hives' Community Supported Apiculture: https://www.hivesforhumanity.com/onlineshop SOIL: A Transformative Justice Project: https://www.soiltjp.org/our-work/resources CARFAC: https://www.carfac.ca/tools/fees/ Bios: Sarah Common Sarah is a community weaver, gardener and sometimes beekeeper; she is passionate about fostering vibrant, healthy community through empowerment and education; they believe in the profound impact of connecting individuals and communities to their land, food, plant medicine, and spirit. They are of Irish Settler descent, a guest on these shared, ancestral, and occupied lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. Practicing care and connection through healing gardens, shared story, and slowing time, Sarah volunteers on the Board of Grounded Futures; and with Ancestral Food Ways. As Time & Times Sarah plays accordion and works with plant fibres - weaving protective spells into adornments towards truth. Cait Hurley Cait (they/them, co-director of Community Care & Growing Governance) is a queer care worker of Doukhobor and Irish descent, based on the ancestral and occupied lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) first peoples. Graduating from Simon Fraser University with a BA Geography, they are curious about community encounters that transform us and the durational care necessary to persist while considering the geographies of their utopian-commune settler ancestors. Composing small studies and time-based questions on the edges with Gentle Geographies, - an embodied, land-based research praxis grounded in a study of relationships and conditions - composing with plants and the elements, primarily orbiting through the Downtown Eastside and remote frontlines. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Aoki, Julia. “Learning from Fireweed – With Sarah Common and Cait Hurley.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, December 19, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/231-learning-from-fireweed.html. This episode is hosted by SFU VOCE program manager Julia Aoki.

On this episode of See How We Run!, we’re joined by two cultural workers: Asia Jong, an emerging curator, arts facilitator and who was one of the co-organizers of Ground Floor Art Centre, a collectively-run DIY gallery, studio and project space with a focus on supporting early emerging artists; and Vitória “veto” Monteiro, an emerging visual artist, arts facilitator, ​​and current Board President of grunt gallery and Acting Curator of Learning and Engagement at the Contemporary Art Gallery. Hosted by SFU VOCE staff member and emerging visual artist Kathy Feng, the three are in conversation about some of Asia and Vitória’s previous work and individual practices. They explore how to create opportunities for emerging artists, and the history of Ground Floor Art Centre and other DIY spaces similar to it. They also talk about incorporating accessibility into the gallery, opening up spaces through workshops and prioritizing access needs, as well as the importance of centering care and joy in arts and cultural spaces. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/230-from-a-place-of-care.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/230-from-a-place-of-care.html Resources: Vitória’s website: https://vitoriamonteiro.ca/ Vitória’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vetosea/ Contemporary Art Gallery: https://cagvancouver.org/ grunt gallery: https://grunt.ca/ Asia’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asiajong/ Ground Floor Art Centre: https://www.instagram.com/groundfloorac/ Bios: Asia Jong: Asia Jong is an independent curator, arts facilitator, administrator and writer from Armstrong, B.C. currently based in Vancouver, on unceded and traditional Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories. She co-ran Ground Floor, a DIY art space and collective which supported early-emerging artists, operating through the values of care, hospitality, and a positive approach to failure. Vitória “veto” Monteiro Vitória "veto" Monteiro (b. Brazil) is an arts worker, facilitator and visual artist. In their art practice, they explore the intricacies of language abstraction, the anti-archive and the reprocessing of information. Navigating the fields where information dwells, veto's work provides a new realm for knowledge to co-exist that is silent, inarticulate, and abstract. veto works as the Acting Curator of Learning and Engagement at the Contemporary Art Gallery, along with serving as the Board President at grunt gallery. Their community practice centers accessible, joyful, and more tender approaches to existing within art and cultural spheres. As a facilitator, they reimagine office culture and modes of productivity, shifting towards cultivating workspaces that prioritize care. By exploring ways of incorporating play, stimming, and self-expression into office culture or the day-to-day, veto roots these shifts as powerful acts of resistance. veto is based on Skwxwú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm , and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ lands or so-called “Vancouver”. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Feng, Kathy. “See How We Run! From a Place of Care — with Asia Jong and Vitória Monteiro.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, December 12, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/230-from-a-place-of-care.html.

On this episode of See How We Run! we’re joined by Gallery Gachet’s executive Director Demi London and artistic director Moroti George to talk about the evolution of Gachet’s approach to supporting artistic creation and exhibition, in ways that are accessible to and supportive of people facing systemic barriers and social marginalization. We speak about the ways the gallery’s programming and operations changed over time in response to shifts in funding, space and the needs of the community, and we discuss their personal entry points into their work at the gallery. This episode is hosted by SFU VOCE program manager Julia Aoki. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/229-art-as-agency-autonomy-and-community.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/229-art-as-agency-autonomy-and-community.html Resources: Gallery Gachet: https://gachet.org/ Dion Smith-Dokkie, This Will Be The First Of A Thousand Worlds: https://gachet.org/current-events-and-exhibitions/dion-smith-dokkie Black Art Centre: https://theblackartscentre.ca/ VANDU: https://vandu.org/ Open Space: https://openspacearts.ca/ Bios: Demi London Traversing through the fields of art, culture, education, and parenting, Demi March London has become attached to experimental emergent spaces and the dialogical aesthetics of administration. Figuring out what ideas look like, and how to talk about them, is an integral part of progressing critical discourse; Demi finds encouragement and hope by advocating for different ways of knowing and being. Galleries and museums have a tendency to be ceremonial spaces for the performance of authority, and Demi has always admired artist-run centres for challenging this and interrogating notions of power and place. As Executive Director at Gachet, Demi aims to foster a reflective and inclusive culture of ideas, discourse, critique, and community – a safe space for creative experimentation and articulating vulnerability. Moroti George Olumoroti (MorotiI) Soji-George (he/they) is a curator, writer and educator based in Vancouver, BC. He is the curator at the Black Arts Centre in Surrey, BC and the artistic director of Gallery Gachet in downtown Vancouver. Olumoroti's curatorial practice primarily involves unravelling and demystifying the ways Blackness is embodied and codified in our shared milieu and conceptualizing the works of Black Contemporary artists and their contributions to the Black cultural lexicon and our understanding of the state of Blackness. His research and curatorial practice also involve envisioning accessible and community-centred art spaces and highlighting the stories of individuals and communities who construct new ways of being that challenge the Western status quo. At the core of his practice is the belief that space could be used to reflect the agency and lived experiences of individuals whose bodies and identities are not typically valued, respected and represented in traditional art and academic settings. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Aoki, Julia. “See How We Run! Art as Agency, Autonomy and Community — with Demi London and Moroti George .” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, December 5, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/229-art-as-agency-autonomy-and-community.html.

On this episode of See How We Run! we’re joined by Neworld Theatre’s managing director Alen Dominguez and consultant Caitlin Jones to talk about Progress Lab 1422’s Backstage Spaces report. Progress Lab is a building in East Van that is a dedicated performance creation space and home to a collective of renowned theatre and dance companies, who collaboratively run the space with their nonprofit tenants’ board C-Space. The Backstage Spaces report provides an understanding of the issues performance creation spaces face in terms of affordability, city zoning, and property-tax, that threaten not only the companies tenancies but their creative capacities. This episode is hosted by SFU VOCE program assistant and interdisciplinary performance artist Samantha Walters. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/228-backstage-spaces.html. Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/228-backstage-spaces.html Resources: Progress Lab 1422: https://c-space.ca/ Backstage Spaces Report: https://c-space.ca/backstage-spaces/ Neworld Theatre: https://neworldtheatre.com/ Bios: Alen Dominguez (He/Him) is a Mexican-Canadian theatre artist who trained as an actor at the University of British Columbia. He has since expanded his work into producing and arts management for several award-winning companies across Metro Vancouver. He's currently the Managing Director at Neworld Theatre and the chair of C-Space, which runs Progress Lab 1422. He's so lucky to get to work in that building surrounded by the coolest cats in town. He’s also worked with Tara Cheyenne Performance, Royal City Musical Theatre, Electric Company, The Chop, City Opera Vancouver, Bard on the Beach, Ruby Slippers, Arts Club, Citadel, Chemainus and Western Gold. Alen is a co-founder of the Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition (CALTAC) and an active member of the Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency (SCALE). Caitlin Jones is a long-time cultural worker, curator and writer—working with and within a range of independent and institutional contexts. As Executive Director of BCA (formerly BC Artscape) she was responsible for the development and operations of multiple affordable real-estate projects for the cultural community. As the Executive Director of the Western Front Society in Vancouver, in addition to her directorial and curatorial duties, she spearheaded programming, policy and dialogue around issues of equity and urban development, and the roles of artists within it. Prior to her move to BC she held a combined curatorial and conservation position at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, was the Director of Programming at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery and was a writer and advisor for Rhizome.org. Her writings on contemporary art and new media have appeared in a wide range of exhibition catalogues, periodicals and other international publications including The Believer, Documents in Contemporary Art series, among others. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Walters, Samantha. “See How We Run! Backstage Spaces — with Alen Dominguez and Caitlin Jones.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 28, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/228-backstage-spaces.html.

Welcome to See How We Run! An original Below the Radar mini-series featuring conversations with arts and cultural workers in Vancouver. In this first episode, co-hosts Julia Aoki, Kathy Feng, and Samantha Walters introduce the series and what’s to come. In each episode, they’ll speak to artists, consultants, administrators, and advocates about how art and culture is made and sustained in Vancouver. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/see-how-we-run/227-see-how-we-run.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/227-see-how-we-run.html Resources: Gallery Gachet: https://gachet.org/ Hives for Humanity: https://www.hivesforhumanity.com/ Progress Lab 1422: https://c-space.ca/ Backstage Spaces Report: https://c-space.ca/backstage-spaces/ Contemporary Art Gallery: https://cagvancouver.org/ Powell Street Festival: https://powellstreetfestival.com/ Bios: Julia Aoki is an administrator, writer, researcher, and advocate. She is the Program Manager at SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement. She has served as the Executive Director of Megaphone magazine, General Manager of VIVO Media Arts Centre, and General Manager and Programming Director of the Powell Street Festival, where she prioritized developing community centred programs. Julia currently sits on the board of 221A Artist Run Centre Society, and has volunteered with advocacy organizations such as the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres and DTES SRO Collaborative. Her writing on cultural expressions and community formations that are overlooked and underserved by commercial and political mechanisms and practices can be found in TOPIA, Space and Culture and a collection by Lexington Books. Kathy Feng is an interdisciplinary artist, born in Guangzhou, China, and is a guest living and working on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. As an immigrant and child of immigrants, she grew up between cultures in a constant process of learning, unlearning, and relearning. This framework informs the central themes to her work: in which memory and nostalgia are expressed through images, text, and the aesthetics of the temporal. Kathy holds a BFA in Visual Art with a minor in Art and Performance Studies from SFU's School for the Contemporary Arts. She began working at SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement January 2020 as a Research Assistant for the Below the Radar podcast. Samantha Walters is an emerging interdisciplinary performer, writer, and creator. She has been the Program Assistant at SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement since 2022. They are based on xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) lands. As an artist, she mostly works between contemporary theatre, directing, and video making. Their most recent works examine ecological relationships and post-human spiritualities, with a heavy favour towards the weird, the dark, and the camp. Collaboration within communities and alongside the non-human lies at the heart of her process. She grew up in England and Hong Kong and holds a BFA honours in Theatre Performance with a minor in English and a certificate in Performance Studies from SFUs School for the Contemporary Arts Cite this episode: Chicago Style Aoki, Julia, Feng, Kathy, and Walters, Samantha. “See How We Run! Conversations with Arts and Cultural Workers.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 21, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/227-see-how-we-run.html

This week on Below the Radar, we’re joined by Vancouver legend Norman Armour, a curator, consultant, producer, director, actor and non-profit arts specialist with over 35 years of experience. Norman discusses his experience co-founding the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, his storied career in the Canadian arts scene, as well as his health. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/226-norman-armour.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/226-norman-armour.html Resources: Norman Armour: https://www.normanarmourconsulting.com/ PuSh International Performing Arts Festival: https://pushfestival.ca/ Rumble Theatre: https://rumble.org/ The Post at 750: https://thepostat750.ca/ VIFF Live: https://viff.org/live/viff-2023/ Bio: Norman Armour is a Vancouver-based curator, consultant, producer, director, actor and non-profit arts specialist with 35+ years of experience. Since graduating from SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts in 1986, he has collaborated on over 120 works for the stage and other media. In 2005, he co-founded the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, serving as its Artistic and Executive Director for 14 years. Prior to that, he co-founded and established Rumble Theatre as a mainstay of the city’s thriving independent theatre scene. He is also a co-founder of the Post at 750, an innovative shared workspace for the non-profit arts. His consulting practice focuses on scenario planning, business strategy, mentoring, proposal writing and development, as well as international engagement, touring and exchange. His career and community contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the City of Vancouver Mayor’s Award and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from his alma mater. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Paramedic for the Arts — with Norman Armour.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 7, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/226-norman-armour.html.

Alex Hemingway, Senior Economist and Public Finance Policy Analyst at the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), joins Am Johal on this episode of Below the Radar. They discuss the Canadian housing crisis, the misclassification of independent contractors in the gig economy, and the CCPA’s report promoting a wealth tax. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/225-alex-hemingway.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/225-alex-hemingway.html Resources: Alex Hemingway: https://policyalternatives.ca/authors/alex-hemingway Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA): BC Office: https://policyalternatives.ca/offices/bc/about CCPA: Wealth Tax Report: https://www.policynote.ca/tax-the-rich/ Understanding Precarity in BC Project: https://policyalternatives.ca/projects/understanding-precarity No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age: https://janemcalevey.com/book/no-shortcuts-organizing-for-power-in-the-new-gilded-age/ Bio: Alex Hemingway is a Senior Economist and Public Finance Policy Analyst at the CCPA’s BC Office. His research focuses on tax fairness, public finances, public services, and economic inequality in BC and Canada. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Extreme Inequality in Canada — with Alex Hemingway.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 31, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/225-alex-hemingway.html.

This week on Below the Radar, we're joined by Samir Gandesha, Professor in the Department of the Humanities and the Director of the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University. In this conversation, Samir and Am discuss the importance of challenging ideas in academia, how family trauma has impacted his perspective, and the long history of the Institute for the Humanities–leading up to the celebration of the Institute's 40th anniversary in October 2023. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/224-samir-gandesha.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/224-samir-gandesha.html Resources: Samir Gandesha: https://www.sfu.ca/people/gandesha.html Institute for the Humanities: https://www.sfu.ca/humanities-institute.html Dissertation: Tragedy and Enlightenment: https://philpapers.org/rec/GANTAE Spectres of Fascism: https://btlbooks.com/book/spectres-of-fascism Journal: Contours: https://www.sfu.ca/humanities-institute/publication/contours.html The Spell of Capital: https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789089648518/the-spell-of-capital Bio: Samir Gandesha is currently Professor in the Department of the Humanities and the Director of the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University. He specializes in modern European thought and culture, with a particular emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Samir was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and immigrated with his parents as an infant to Canada in the mid-1960s. Members of his extended family were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “The Reason for Reason — with Samir Gandesha.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 24, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/224-samir-gandesha.html.

Bruce Mutsvairo, Professor of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University, and a 2023 SFU CERi researcher-in-residence, sits down with Am Johal to discuss his journey from journalism into academia and the state of journalism in Africa. He and Am also discuss the complexities of citizen journalism in relation to influencers, especially in the context of transparency, misinformation, and inequality. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/223-bruce-mutsvairo.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/223-bruce-mutsvairo.html Resources: Bruce Mutsvairo: https://www.uu.nl/staff/bmutsvairo Introducing Bruce Mutsvairo: https://www.sfu.ca/ceri/blog/2023/Introducing-Bruce-Mutsvairo.html Platforms, Power and Politics: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=platforms-power-and-politics--9781509553570&fbclid=IwAR0qhMg8n4OLgGo0ucxHYcTwtdXSF38ZpYbDYYCLmcCNpZIEWuf3tCuSsv4 Bio: Bruce Mutsvairo is a Professor in the department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University, where he also doubles as the UNESCO Chair on Disinformation, Data and Democracy. His research revolves around the importance of community engagement in academia. Bruce is SFU CERi’s researcher-in-residence from January until August 2023. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Platforms, Power, and Politics — with Bruce Mutsvairo.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 17, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/223-bruce-mutsvairo.html.

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Ali Kazimi, director and winner of the 2019 Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts. Ali shares with Am how he got into filmmaking, his experiences of discrimination when arriving in Canada, and his path into the production of his various films, such as Continuous Journey, Narmada, Random Acts of Legacy, and his latest film, Beyond Extinction. In talking about his film, Shooting Indians, created in collaboration with Jeffrey Thomas, Ali describes the film’s dialogic approach, and how Jeffrey challenges the visual stereotypes of Indigenous people put forward by the American photographer, Edward Sherriff Curtis. Ali explains how he uses archives to unearth never before seen footage of the Komagata Maru, and how he embraces the imperfections of old archival materials. Finally, Am and Ali discuss the effort it takes to maintain autonomy as a filmmaker. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/222-ali-kazimi.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/222-ali-kazimi.html Resources: Ali Kazimi: https://alikazimi.ca/ Continuous Journey: https://alikazimi.ca/films/continuous-journey/ Narmada: A Valley Rises: https://alikazimi.ca/films/narmada/ Random Acts of Legacy: https://alikazimi.ca/films/random-acts-of-legacy/ Shooting Indians: https://alikazimi.ca/films/shooting-indians/ Beyond Extinction: A Sinixt Resurgence: https://alikazimi.ca/films/beyond-extinction/ Bio: Ali Kazimi is a filmmaker, author and media artist whose work deals with race, social justice migration, history and memory. He is the recipient of the 2019 Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts. Ali is currently an associate professor at York University's School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design and was the former chair for the Department of Cinema & Media Arts. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Beyond Extinction — with Ali Kazimi.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, October 10, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/222-ali-kazimi.html.