Vancouver Art Gallery’s most ambitious exhibition is here and it is epic. Over three years in the making, MashUp: The Birth of Modern Culture involves 30 curators, 156 artists and 371 pieces of art. There is a bit of everything – photography, video, architecture, film, sculpture, graphic design, industrial design, drawing, painting and music. Some household names include Picasso, Warhol, Gehry, Basquiat, Koons, Tobias Wong, and so many more (full list of artists).
This groundbreaking exhibition has taken over all four floors of the gallery. It’s meticulously organized in sections that represent key periods in the history of mashup culture: the early 20th century (Collage, Montage and Readymade at the Birth of Modern Culture), the post-war (Cut, Copy and Quotation in the Age of Mass Media), the late 20th century (Splicing, Sampling and the Street in the Age of Appropriation), and the 21st century (The Digital Age: Hacking, Remix and the Archive in the Age of Post-Production).
It’s a dense show, so give yourself time to wind your way through it. The show runs from February 20 to June 12. Visit the Vancouver Art Gallery’s website for hours and tickets. Enjoy!
Pro tip: If you’re lucky enough to visit when Vancouver Art Gallery’s Assistant Curator Stephanie Rebick is around, you’re in for a real treat. She gave us a preview of the exhibition and we’re still in awe of her ability to share so much, so succinctly.
Top image: Barbara Kruger, Untitled (SmashUp), 2016, site-specific installation at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Photo by Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery.