Listening to Paint Dry

Led by Jorma Kujala

Sunday, May 29, 2022; 2pm 

Approx. 15 minute introduction and 1 hour walking time, followed by a half hour open discussion.

Meeting Location: NE corner of East 8th Avenue and Kingsway, south side of Mount Pleasant Community Centre [map]

FREE

Mount Pleasant is an eclectic mix of painted spaces and places that continue to shake and shape, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Over the past century, this area’s small and large-scale construction has been a bellwether of social, cultural, economic, colonial and political forces that have cemented themselves onto these unceded lands. In recent years, it has also been awash with the Vancouver Mural Festival’s colourful contributions.

Paint is a critical component in construction and art creation, and its processes of drying, hardening and curing are integral to its longevity. This soundwalk continues historical, cultural and socioeconomic explorations from earlier soundwalks, by listening to paint dry, by listening to the pulses of this community, as well as probing places where we too may have hardened and cured. Between the layers of neighbourhood paint, we will tune in to growth that develops when discovering something new, when rediscovering essential and elemental experiences that may have been forgotten. Blended with the sounds of traffic, people, commerce and construction that whitewash our urban environment, we will listen for equally important echoes of this neighbourhood, the less obvious auditory renderings of absence as well as presence that form this poetics of space.

Jorma Kujala’s academic and interdisciplinary art practice includes painting, mixed media, collage, drawing, as well as his soundwalking research as coordinator of the Vancouver Soundwalk Collective. His work is informed by the interchange between the social and the studio, and he researches networks of shared knowledge, identity, memory, and social interaction that emerge when culture, communication, and social forces intersect. His work also investigates perceptions of truth, repetition, re-creation and re-enactment, as well as the bodily interplay between the senses, the individual, and environments. He gratefully acknowledges he lives, works and plays on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Salish peoples: the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), the Tsleil-Waututh (Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh) and the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Nations.

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

Led by Jamie Dolinko

Sunday, June 5, 2022; 2pm

Approx. 1 hour walking time, with short post-walk discussion.

Meeting Location: A-maze-ing Laughter, a bronze sculpture by Yue Minjun, located in Morton Park,1800 Morton Ave. (Davie Street at Denman Street) [map]

FREE

Pre-registration is now closed, however there will be spots available for this soundwalk on the day of the event. Please feel free to show up; we will do our best to accommodate everyone who attends.

The last 2 years have been a time to listen from afar, to observe what’s been heard, and to notice what’s been missing.

As we move into a transitional pandemic phase and begin to reacquaint ourselves with our neighbors and surroundings, please join the Vancouver Soundwalk Collective and Vancouver New Music for an exploration of the bustling neighborhood west of Denman Street in Vancouver’s West End, led by VSC member Jamie Dolinko.

Soundwalking is an excellent opportunity to concentrate on the moment and return to the present. We’ll experience a constant soundtrack that presents itself both naturally, intentionally, and in certain cases annually, and have an opportunity to pay attention to the often overlooked but persistent soundscape that accompanies us at all times.

Artist and Vancouver Soundwalk Collective member Jamie Dolinko has been leading soundwalks in Vancouver with Hildegard Westerkamp, Jorma Kujala, and others for 5 years. After studying sound with Nobua Kubota at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, and receiving an M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in noisy New York, she is currently living and making art in Vancouver. Dolinko is eternally grateful for her proximity to Stanley Park and the tranquility and solace it provides, especially throughout these pandemic times.