Mainstreeters: Taking Advantage, 1972-1982
Satellite Gallery, Vancouver
Curated by: Allison Collins and Michael Turner
Satellite Gallery launches a new exhibition that uncovers an under-recognized chapter of Vancouver art history. Mainstreeters: Taking Advantage, 1972-1982 is an exhibition, website and publication that shines a light on a self-identified collective of socially and artistically motivated men and women who came of age on Vancouver's Main Street once the dividing line between a predominantly Anglo middle-class west side and a multicultural working-class east side.
The Mainstreeters, Kenneth Fletcher, Deborah Fong, Carol Hackett, Marlene MacGregor, Annastacia McDonald, Charles Rea, Jeanette Reinhardt and Paul Wong were an "art gang" who took advantage of the times, a new medium (video), and each other. Emerging from the end-stage hippie era, the gang drew from glam, punk and a thriving gay scene to become an important node in the local art scene. Their activities connect the influential interdisciplinary salon of Vancouver's Roy Kiyooka in the early 1960s with the collective-oriented social practices that have emerged worldwide in the early years of the 21st century. Like the current "digital natives" generation, the Mainstreeters were the first generation to grow up with video cameras. The resulting documents focus on a decade of their lives, including forays into sex, love, drugs and art. Throughout the exhibition, Mainstreeter videos will be presented in storefronts along Main Street.
Mainstreeters: Taking Advantage, 1972-1982 is curated by Allison Collins and Michael Turner and is a co-production between grunt gallery and Presentation House Gallery.
The Mainstreeters publication is available in the Gallery Bookstore.
Watch the Mainstreeters: Taking Advantage, 1972-1982 documentary featuring footage from the Mainstreeters' archives and new interviews with a number of the Mainstreeter artists: vimeo.com/gruntgallery/takingadvantage
Exhibition Brochure
Events
Saturday, July 22 2017, 3-7pm, Presentation House Gallery | Mainstreeters Book Launch and PHG Closing BBQ Party
Thursday, January 22 at 8pm, Satellite Gallery | Performance of Kenneth Fletcher’s Camp Potlatch, directed by Paul Wong.
Saturday, January 31 at 2pm, Satellite Gallery | Curators Tour and Conversation with Allison Collins and Michael Turner
Saturday, February 21 at 2pm | Main Street Walking Tour with Paul Wong and Annastacia McDonald
Meeting point: Helen's Grill, 4102 Main Street
Saturday, March 7, Fox Cabaret | Drag Ball
Sunday, March 15, 12-5pm, Satellite Gallery | Countercultures Forum
An afternoon of talks and multimedia presentations about countercultures of the sixties and seventies in conjunction with the Mainstreeters project. This forum considers Vancouver's countercultural activities of the era within the context of cultural histories beyond Canada, through the perspectives of artists, writers, curators and historians.
Countercultures Forum
Acknowledgements
The exhibition is generously supported by Rick Erickson and Donna Partridge.
Project support from Canada Council Media Arts Project Grants and the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation.
grunt gallery gratefully acknowledges funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, The British Columbia Arts Council, The City of Vancouver, The BC Gaming Commission the Audain Foundation and well as our supporters and sponsors.
Presentation House Gallery is grateful for the support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, The City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver through the North Vancouver Recreation & Culture Commission, and the Yosef Wosk Foundation.
Satellite Gallery is made possible through the generous support of the Michael O'Brian Family Foundation.
Banner photo: Henri Robideau
