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The foreshore describes the land along the edge of a body of water that is repeatedly submerged and revealed by the tide. It is a region of constant flux and unclear jurisdiction.
It is the wet part of the beach.

Generating questions, confluence, and aggregation inspired by the conditions of the foreshore, this program was a collaborative pursuit and shared space between Other Sights, Contemporary Art Gallery and Access Gallery during 2016 and 2017. Program producers from Other Sights included Jen Weih (lead), Vanessa Kwan, Marko Simcic, Barbara Cole, Colin Griffiths and Lorna Brown. Program contributors from Contemporary Art Gallery and Access Gallery were Kimberly Phillips, Julia Lamare, Catherine De Montreuil, and Chelsea Yuill. The foreshore was supported by Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of BC through BC Arts Council and BC Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, the City of Vancouver, Burrard Arts Foundation, The Hamber Foundation, The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 15 and each organization’s committed donors, members and volunteers.

Foreshore 2016-17 took place on unceded and occupied territory, specifically that of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

The foreshore has since served as a fertile operative metaphor for Other Sights’ thinking for some years, developing into several programming strains, including the 2018 Foreshore Listens audio zines, the 2020 Flood (Displaced Horizon) billboard project, and the 2022-2024 Sovereign Waterways public art project at the Blue Cabin. In 2022, Other Sights focussed again on recognizing the abundant philosophical, metaphorical and physical potential of this interstitial space.

Foreshore Immersive revisits the presentation format of past 2016-17 sessions and explores critical ideas and research from artists, writers and thinkers who are all working to address the many uncertainties and challenges of our present time. Foreshore Immersive will assess the ever changing conditions of public spaces at this phase in the pandemic, survey ongoing urgencies of climate crises, explore ways of applying queer theory to maritime disaster and colonial failure, and celebrate the resurgence of Indigenous-led forms of scholarship and leadership.

Foreshore Immersive will take place at Branscombe House and The Blue Cabin in Richmond on the unceded lands and waters of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Tswwassen and Kwantlen Nations.

2023 Project Partners:

Branscombe House

Blue Cabin

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