as part of Bright Light
Feb 12 - Mar 20, 2010
opening hours, Wednesday to Saturday, 7pm - 12 am, and for special events
33 West Cordova, Vancouver
The artist collective Instant Coffee presents Light Bar, a full-spectrum light bar installation and venue for light therapy, light lectures, light shows, light reading and light rock. Instant Coffee Light Bar is an ongoing art project that investigates the potential and power of light. The artists come to this idea through necessity. Living in a place such as Vancouver, Canada, where the rain can seem endless, the negative effects of the lack of sunlight on individual psyches and the large social milieu feels at times paramount. The use of light as a therapy or as a remedy for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is commonly and affectively used by individuals, but for Light Bar Instant Coffee puts it to the test in small or large group situations.
Select Schedule of Events:
Friday, February 12: Opening night celebration with the premier performance of CHRISTINE, a Vancouver synth pop band with Julian Paul Carnrite and Kevin Ron Schmidt. Christine uses computers to make their music and likes it when you dance. With guest djs Natalie Purschwitz and Jeremy Mendes, performance at 11pm
Saturday, February 13: Slide Show: Aaron Carpenter, Christine D'Onofrio, Owen Kidd, Shannon Oksanen, Alex Pensato, Philippe Pasquier, Judy Radul, Sylvain Sailly and Sydney Vermont. Instant Coffee invites ten artists to show slides of their work or as work; old school analogue or not; vacation pics may be included. With guest djs Rodney Graham and Jeremy Shaw.
Thursday, February 18: Light Lecture: RAYMOND W. LAM, MD, Professor of Psychiatry at UBC and Director of the Mood Disorders Centre at UBC Hospital, lectures on light, its relationship to SAD and Non-SAD Conditions http://www.UBCsad.ca, 8pm followed by an Instant Coffee light show.
Friday, February 19: Book Launch: "Lateral Learning" by Vantage Art Projects, an exhibition-in-print project Vol.1 guest curated by Paul Butler with essays by Dr. Jeanne Randolph and Mark Clintberg, http://www.vantageartprojects.com, 8pm.
Saturday, February 20: Rooftop Special: hosted by LUCAS GRANITO, DANIEL HELLMANN AND KELVIN BEAUDETTE. Inspired by the sunny daytime parties at WMC in Miami, Sonar in Spain Picnik Electronique in Montreal and their events last summer, Rooftop Special aims to recreate a place like summer in the Light Bar. To complement the space they will be playing classic Chicago house and lots of modern dance music. http://www.rooftopspecial.com.
This week's dj's: Wednesday: Mittens and Gloves; Thursday: Peter Gazendam; Friday: Jenifer Papararo and Natalie Purschwitz, and Andrew Andrew.
Saturday, February 27: Karaoke and Authenticity: Seattle curator ERIC FREDERICKSEN will host a night of karaoke interwoven with an illustrated lecture. Malcolm McLaren recently wrote, "Today there are two words that sum up the culture: 'authenticity' is one, and the other ... 'karaoke'! With Vancouver's karaoke experts, Weekend Leisure. Lecture at 9pm
Monday, March 8: Light Compositions: DIDIER PETIT (cello), VIVIANE HOULE (voice) and STEFAN SMULOVITZ (viola & laptop) come together for a rare performance hosted by TOM CONE, 9pm
Friday, March 12: Woo Magazine launch.
Saturday, March 13: Van Bands: KICK EVRYTHING and CALL THE CITY play loud, 10pm
Wednesday, March 17: Slickerslacker is Fiona Bowie and Jim Peers (guitar, vox, knobs and tubes, buttons, various utensils and sliders), 10pm
Thursday, March 18: Danish Artist Ditte Lyngker Pedersen will host a screening event based on her video works and give a short presentation on the artists-run exhibition space rum46 in Århus, Denmark, 8pm
Friday, March 19: CAM DALES of the ice cream social playing 50's and 60's hits. House dj's: Julian Paul Carnrite, Peter Gazendam, Lazers Bomb, Mittens and Gloves, Jeremy Mendes, Stephen Murray, Jenifer Papararo, and Natalie Purshwitz. Guest bartenders: Vivian Bessette, Marianne Bos, Tom Cone, Owen Kidd, Philippe Pasquier, Judy Radul, Kathleen Ritter, Tiny Josh Schmidt, Stuart Sproule and more?
As part of Bright Light a collaborative project that brings together fourteen arts organizations from Vancouver?s Downtown Eastside. Bright Light is commissioned by the City of Vancouver through its Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program. www.bright-light.ca
Media Contact: Gwen Kallio
Instant Coffee is a service oriented artist collective based in Toronto and Vancouver. They began their light research in Bergen, Norway in collaboration with Flaggfabrikken, opening the Light Bar for two nights of events and therapy. They continued their research over a three-month residency at Kuenstlerhaeuser, Worpswede, Germany then returned to Vancouver to open the Light Bar Bus Shelter, as part of A Bright Future, a four part public commission for 88 BLOCKS*Art on Main for which they adapted the Main and West 20th bus shelter into a full spectrum light therapy bar. In working with the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Instant Coffee opened the Light Bar, a functioning bar and venue from January 30th to May 24th, 2009. Instant Coffee's most consistent members are Cecilia Berkovic, Jinhan Ko, Kelly Lycan, Jenifer Papararo, Kate Monro, and Khan Lee.