Barbara Alper, Dominique Blain, Eugenio Dittborn, Willie Doherty, Jochen Gerz, Johan Grimonprez, Jamelie Hassan, Mona Hatoum; Alfredo Jaar, Roy Kiyooka, John & Yoko, Allan Harding MacKay, Nam June Paik, Nancy Paterson, Edward Poitras, Martha Rosler, Barbara Steinman, John Scott, Hiromi Tsuchida, Gu Xiong

Curated by: Karen Henry and Karen Love

War Zones presents photo and media - based art work concerned with situations of conflict on the late Twentieth Century. The works, by an international selection of contemporary artists, are divided into three sections: Siting Conflict, Present Tense, and Bearing Witness. The project beings in April and spans the summer into September, and involves a number of venues and collaborators.

Contemporary artists interact with the context of war by creating images and objects which encourage memory and reflection, memoralize and criticise, mark sites and physical traces in order to evoke their implications for the past and for the future. The art works are fragments, artifacts, representing one position within the diverse range of experience. The exhibitions are not a comprehensive survey of the history of war, no does it address the politics of any one conflict in depth, but as a whole it provides a context for reflecting on what French theorist Paul Virilo has called the "merciless" century, and on implications for the future.

A catalogue was published by Presentation House Gallery in conjunction with the exhibition, and includes essays by Sue Malvern, Zdenka Badovinac, Bob Sherrin and an introduction by the curators Karen Love and Karen Henry.

Sponsored by Janice Dillon and David Gibbons, Marine Printers, The Royal Bank, The Charles H. Scott Gallery / Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design Residency Program and Aragon Development, Simon Fraser University Graduate Liberal Studies Program and the Leon & Thea Koerner Foundation Lecture Series, Preferred Service Customs Brokers, The British Council, VanCity Savings Credit Union, The Annie Wong Art Foundation, The Hamber Foundation, The Leon & Thea Koerner Foundation, The Vancouver Sun, The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, The Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council, The Vancouver Foundation, The Canada Council for the Arts and the Japan-Canada Fund, as well as participating organizations.

Schedule of Exhibitions

April 17 - May 30
War Zones - Siting Conflict
Barbara Alper, Willie Doherty, Alfredo Jaar, Allan Harding MacKay, Martha Rosler
Presentation House Gallery

May 15 - June 26
War Zones - Present Tense
Jochen Gerz and John Scott
Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver

May 15 - June 26
Mona Hatoum and Nancy Paterson
Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver

June 5 - July 3
Johan Grimonprez
Access Gallery, Vancouver

June 5 - July 18
War Zones - Bearing Witness
Eugenio Dittborn, Roy Kiyooka, Nam June Paik, Barbara Steinman, Hiromi Tsuchida, Gu Xiong
Presentation House Gallery

July 14 - September 16
Dominique Blain
Vancouver Art Gallery: Ground floor and Rotunda

Gallery Press Release

Media Coverage

Events

April 15, noon | Artist talk by Willie Doherty, at ECIAD Lecture Hall.
Organized in cooperation with ECIAD Residency Program.

April 16, 6pm | Invitational 'salon' with Willie Doherty conducting discussion,
Vancouver Art Gallery

June 8, 1-5pm | Producers workshop with Johan Grimonprez; introduced by the artist.
Co-produced by Video In, Presentation House Gallery and ~scope. Both events at the Western Front, Vancouver

Saturday June 5 , 2pm | Opening reception for Bearing Witness
Presentation House Gallery

Thursday, July 15 | Opening reception, Vancouver Art Gallery, following Dominique Blain's talk at 7:30 pm

Billboard Projects
At West Georgia and Homer Streets
May - Ed Poitras / June - Jamelie Hassan / July - John & Yoko

April 29, May 6, 13, 20
Film Series, Pacific Cinematheque
Co-presented by Presentation House Gallery, PC and Veterans Against Nuclear Arms.

April 18, May 16 and June 6, 2 pm
Talk Series, Vancouver Art Gallery
Co-presented by Presentation House Gallery and the Vancouver Art Gallery

June 10, 7:30 pm | Artist's talk: Hiromi Tsuchida
Presentation House Gallery

War Zones is a program of exhibitions and special events held in collaboration with Access Gallery, Artspeak Gallery, the Contemporary Art Gallery, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Pacific Cinemathque and Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, the Western Front and Video In.