A community dialogue on artwashing — the co-option of art workers and institutions by real estate in Vancouver
Unravelling this complex and uneven relationship between art, art workers, civic government, and developers is fundamental to understanding the acceleration of Vancouver’s housing crisis. BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS… will open a space for artists who are either new to or already committed to fighting for housing justice to ask questions, share experiences, and strategize together to win a better collective life for all.
How does artwashing work? And how do we organize against it? BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS… challenges art workers and their institutions to examine forms of collective action outside the contained avenues of criticism sanctioned by state and capital. To consider a contemporary case study of how art workers have forged solidarities with housing movements in Vancouver, the forum will address the recent mobilization against Westbank Corporation’s Fight for Beauty exhibition, which declared the company’s rebranding as a “cultural practice.” Following a public protest that temporarily shut down the exhibition in December 2017, an open letter petitioned artists to refuse to work with Westbank in solidarity with communities in Vancouver facing eviction and displacement. At the time of this writing, the letter has collected signatures from 194 artists and 11 art organizations from across Canada.
BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS… will be hosted and moderated by W.W.A.S. (Brit Bachmann, Gabi Dao, Josh Gabert-Doyon, and Byron Peters), a provisional research collective assembled in Fall 2017 for Gabert-Doyon’s N.O.P.E. fellowship with 221A. The forum begins with short presentation of the collective’s semester of research on Vancouver’s Woodward’s building as a historic theatre of class struggle, spanning the turn of the twentieth century to today.
W.W.A.S. encourages those with specific questions or experiences to register for floor time in advance using this form.
Snacks and beverages will be available.
Project Support
