The Vancouver Memory FestivalNovember 10-19, 2010

At the heart of the Vancouver Memory Festival was the Photography exhibition which featured three photographers working with different aspects of public and private memory.

Exhibitions November 10-19, 2010Roundhouse Community Center

Memory and the Valleyby David Campion and Sandra Shields

Memory and the Valley explores the ways in which memory persists in the landscape: What does it mean to know (or not to know) that a longhouse once stood where the railway tracks now run? What is the nature of knowledge and remembering, and how is the past visible in our lives today? Installation view

From the Snowy Mountain: Constructing Memories by Christopher Grabowski

Christopher Grabowski’s photography explores the way false memories are created and documented, and how those who construct the false memories inhabit them, how these constructions (the elaborate frame, the scene never visited) project a sense of individuality that transcends artifice.

Emigrant and Immigrant by Goran Basaric

For the past ten years, Goran Basaric has been photographing the memory places of his son, who knows only Canada as his home. For “Emigrant and Immigrant,” Basaric travelled to Belgrade to photograph the memory places from his own childhood. Belgrade has changed dramatically since Basaric left for Canada in the early 1990s, and these photographs show a new yet familiar city, imposed onto the landscape of Basaric’s memories. What emerges from his photographs of Serbia and Canada are two visual narratives that point to the nature of immigrant lives and childhood memories.

Memory Talks The Ecology of Memory with Faith Moosang and Hal Wake

Faith Moosang (First Son: Portraits of C.D. Hoy) was interviewed by Hal Wake, Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival, on her process of collecting abandoned photo albums, home movies, slides and other ephemera related to the remembrance of the family.

The Photography Panel

On the opening night of the 2010 Memory Festival, Stephen Osborne and the photographers Goran Basaric, David Campion and Christopher Grabowski, discussed many of the themes central to the festival: the nature of preserving memory, and how the camera itself informs this process.

November 10-13, 2010 Roundhouse Community Center

The Photography Panel: Goran Basaric, David Campion, Christopher Grabowski, Stephen Osborne.

Memory SentencesThe Art of the Sentence Workshop with Stephen Osborne

This workshop, attended by 14 writers, was dedicated to writing one strong sentence. Participants learned the art of crafting sentences: how to identify them and how to write them so that they cut straight to the heart of the story or essay.

One-Sentence Memory Contest

Over 60 entrants submitted to the One-Sentence Memory Contest, from which a longlist of 27 finalists was picked. The finalists were exhibited at the Roundhouse Community Center and published in a special digital offprint by Geist.

November 10-19, 2010 Roundhouse Community Center

Edward Parker: One-Sentence Memory Contest finalist

Readings & Performances November 13-14, 2010 Roundhouse Community Center

Big Graphic Stories by Lee Henderson, Hiromi Goto and Sarah Leavitt. Hosted by Charles Demers.

Each reader’s stories were accompanied by projected images for a storybook-style reading of ingenious fabrications of memory and poignant reminiscences.

Before we get into the event—I would like to hear from you in what way you think that my love affected you by Marcus Youssef

Marcus Youssef (playwright, actor, director and writer) performed in a multimedia show about his mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s.

Rewind: Memory on Film by Thursdays Writing Collective

Rewind featured storytelling by Irit Shimrat, Antonette Rea, Joan Morelli and Muriel Marjorie of Thursdays Writing Collective. Hiromi Goto reading: Big Graphic Stories

Memory FactsAttendance

Talks and Readings: 450Exhibitions: 3200

The 2010 Memory Festival exposed the work of more than 40 artists to more than 1000 spectators.

Featured Artists

Photographers: 3 Playwrights: 1 Graphic novelists: 2 Storytellers: 4 Photo album collectors: 1 Videographers: 2Writers: 30+

4th Annual Memory Festival

The Vancouver Memory Festival was founded by the Vancouver Memory Collective in 2006 as a free-floating series of public events that focus on public and private memory. At the heart of this endeavour lie questions of remembering, forgetting and the nature of memory itself. This was the largest festival to date.

The 2010 Memory Festival was brought to you by:Geist Magazine

Roundhouse Community CenterSFU Writing & Publishing Programme