The Swiss are in the House!

What a day! I was at Robson Square earlier today and decided to head to the Opening of the Switzerland House in the afternoon. When I arrived, there was a huge line up to get in but the time went quickly since there were a few performers and many excited people to talk to.


Within minutes I entered La Maison de la Suisse and once inside I was offered pins, chocolates, crackers, Ricola throat drops, a hat and more chocolate.


Once inside I met up with one of my favorite bloggers, Miss604, who was pleasant. I wanted to blog about the experience at the time but unfortunately my smartphone could not get a reception regardless of how many times I tried to connect. However, I was able to watch the Swiss make some chocolate. They had excellent preparation and presentation skills.

Since I was on Granville Island I decided to exlore and discovered cool t-shirts, like the one from Rip Curl Vancouver, and some strange artwork. Best of all, I stayed on Granville Island long enough to visit the great bakery there, have a mint hot chocolate and watch Vancouver's Vectorial Elevation.

2010 Olympics brings civic war to Vancouver?

Have you read the headlines lately in the paper?

"When the International Olympic Committee troops did not pull out of Vancouver after the games, the city should have erupted into civic war..."

Well, I did not see this quote in the paper but I read this disturbing thought when I attended "Reece Terris: The Western Front Front - Another False Front". The exhibition was vibrant.

I learned about this exhibition from the 2010 Cultural Olympiad website:

The Western Front, one of Canada's longest running artist-run arts centres, is
located in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. In an architectural
intervention, artist Reece Terris constructs a temporary false front on top
of the centre’s already existing false front. This work is in keeping with
the idea of architecture as an expression of perceived wealth and culture,
and it emphasizes Vancouver’s long-running upswing in the real-estate market
and subsequent boom economy.

I was even fortunate to attend on a day that there was a symposium called "Learning from Vancouver". I even learned the interesting history and the reason behind the architecture of tht Vanvouver Art Gallery.

Cultural Olympiad: Ginger Goodwin Way Research Image

Vancouver is rich in cultural activities this year. There are many galleries open. One of these galleries is the Or Gallery where I went to the opening of the "Ginger Goodwin Way". The gallery was small and it featured few art pieces but it had a nice video presentation and best of all it was free. If you are interested in labour relations, this would be a good exhibition to attend because its about artists that “take ownership of stories that are in danger of being lost or distorted.”

According to Vancouver 2010:

"In 1918, Albert “Ginger’ Goodwin, a miner and vice president of the British
Columbia Federation of Labour, was avoiding conscription, hiding out in a small
cabin on Vancouver Island’s Forbidden Plateau, when he was killed by a police
constable. His death sparked the first general strike in Canada’s history. Those
are the bare facts, but the story surrounding them is still hotly debated today.

In Ginger Goodwin Way, an exhibition curated by Jesse Birch, outstanding
visual artists wrestle with contested histories, inspired by Goodwin’s plural
and ambiguous life story. Mariana Castillo Deball, a Prix de Rome winner from
Mexico who is based in Amsterdam, Until We Have A Helicopter, the Vancouver duo
of Wes Cameron and Matthew Robertson; and Vancouver-born Michele Di Menna, now based in Frankfurt and Berlin, take ownership of stories that are in danger of
being lost or distorted."

Presented With: Or Gallery, 555 Hamilton St., Vancouver (604)683-7395
When: 1/30/2010 to 3/06/2010
Tuesday to Saturday, Noon to 5:00 pm