Surrey Art Gallery will be busy with three different free events on Saturday, April 29, including another Wikipedia “edit-a-thon” and two gatherings focused on books.
From noon to 4 p.m., the gallery’s annual Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon aims to help increase the representation of women and non-binary artists on the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
There is a significant gender gap on Wikipedia, according to planners of the event. “Studies estimate that less than 15 per cent of contributors identify as women,” says an event post. “Gender inequities on Wikipedia contribute to a bias in content and language, as well as the erasure of knowledges and histories.”
Art + Feminism is described as “an international initiative that builds a community of activists who are committed to closing information gaps related to gender, feminism, and the arts, beginning with Wikipedia.”
Rungh Magazine co-presents the event at Surrey Art Gallery, to which people are urged to come with ideas for entries that need updating or creating on the website. Pre-researched artists and artworks from the gallery’s permanent collection will also be available for entry.
No prior knowledge or practice of editing Wikipedia is required, but in order to create new entries a person must be registered on Wikipedia and have made 10 previous edits on existing pages. Bring your own laptop or tablet to this event, if possible.
Also on April 29, from 1 to 2:30 at the Bear Creek Park gallery, a Popup Poetry and Bookmaking Workshop will be led by local poets Kevin Spenst and Tolu Oloruntoba. They’ll share their work through readings and teach people how to make DIY chapbooks. The event is organized in partnership with Surrey Art Gallery Association.
Later in the day, an evening “Autumn Strawberry” panel discussion and book launch will involve artist Cindy Mochizuki and community organizers Lorene Oikawa and Tami Hirasawa. Starting at 6:30 p.m., they’ll discuss the histories of Japanese settlement and farming in Surrey and the Fraser Valley, along with “the role of memory and art in revealing the stories associated with place and their continued influence on the present.”
Mochizuki’s multimedia exhibit, launched at the gallery in 2019, has evolved to include a new “Autumn Strawberry” book boxset that features the full script of her animated installation. Designed by Vicky Lum, the edition includes essays by Namiko Kunimoto and Mochizuki, and in-conversation texts with the artist and her artistic collaborators Lisa Mariko Gelley (choreographer) and Nancy Tam (sound designer, compositions).
Also at SAG, Mochizuki’s “Autumn Strawberry (Dance Film)” has been extended until May 7.
This spring the gallery’s feature exhibit is Charles Campbell’s “An Ocean to Livity,” which features large-scale metal and mixed-media sculptures, plus multichannel audio installations. The Victoria-based artist explores human breath in his work, a reaction to the 2020 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.
More details are posted on surrey.ca/artgallery, or call 604-501-5566.
Another event at the gallery is a SAGA Thursday Artist Talk with Hamed Rashtian on May 4, about art and different colonial histories, starting at 7:30 p.m. Rashtian will shed light on his recent project, “Same Old Story,” a multimedia installation that “reflects on the possibilities and limits of image, text, and sound to find creative forms of narrative construction.”
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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