SECOND SPRING | TROUT LAKE | VANCOUVER | 2019

Chanelle Adams, Tiziana La Melia, Matthew McBride, Etcallshome (Ellis Sam), Igor Santizo, She-orc (Kathleen Taylor)

Second Spring invites six artists, academics and educators to Trout Lake (John Hendry Park) for two days of workshops, lectures and performances. Hand-appliqued textile sigils form the walls of a portable wooden frame, functioning as a stage for events to take place.

In part born out of the interests of real estate speculation in East Vancouver, parks like John Hendry Park emerged out of the “City Beautiful Movement”, which were designed for the livelihood of the workers of extractive industries and to reduce juvenile delinquency. It’s current reputation of having a high coliform count reminds us of the dark histories of the environmental destruction of Vancouver’s early colonial industries which left much of the China Creek flats and False Creek uninhabitable for decades. These obfuscated histories and ecologies that surround the lake form the backdrop out of which a gathering of artists, writers, and educators are brought together to contemplate the invisible communications that occur between plants, animals, and humans. How do forms of invisible communication structure, relay, and describe our adaptation to contradictory landscapes? Second Spring considers suburban park land as generative, fostering all manner of adaptation and mutation.

Organized by Julian Yi-Zhong Hou, curated in collaboration with Tiziana La Melia, with support from Sungpil Yoon and VIVO Media Arts Centre, and the City of Vancouver. With additional support and collaboration from Julie Zhang, Marika Vandekraats, Aubin Kwon, Sharona Franklin, Joji Fukushima.

Photo credit: Sungpil Yoon