Vancouver Art Gallery presents Asim Waqif at Offsite
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Vancouver Art Gallery - Offsite 1100 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia
Asim Waqif, "Salvage," 2017
site-specific installation at Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite, Photo byRachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery
The Vancouver Art Gallery presents an engaging public artwork by New Delhi-based artist Asim Waqif, at the Gallery’s Offsite location in the heart of downtown Vancouver to April 15, 2018.
Inspired by environmental concerns and the pace of human consumption, Waqif has constructed an immersive architectural experience from materials collected at repurpose stores, transfer stations and landfills in the metro Vancouver area. The structure has been assembled using timber, roofing, doors, window frames and sections of walls salvaged from recent demolitions sites in addition to electronics, cabinets, bails of recycled cardboard and containers discarded from local residential, business and institutional buildings. Waqif’s architectural structure also incorporates an interactive acoustic system using microphones, effects pedals and speakers. Visitors are encouraged to move through the installation maze allowing them to actively experience the architecture instead of passively observing it.
“We are very pleased to present the first exhibition in Canada of work by Asim Waqif, an emerging artist whose use of unconventional materials and unique approach to interactive design entice viewers to be more curious and adventurous with art,” says Kathleen S. Bartels, Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. “Through an engaging encounter with issues of sustainability, industrial manufacturing systems and the imprint of human activity, Waqif’s work compels us to observe and reflect on the world in which we live today.”
Offsite: Asim Waqif is presented as part of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Institute of Asian Art and is curated by Diana Freundl, Associate Curator, Asian Art. This project will be accompanied by a brochure.
About the artist
Asim Waqif (born 1978, Hyderabad, India) studied architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, but after graduation turned his focus to a dedicated art-practice. He has worked in sculpture, site-specific public installation, video, photography, and with large-scale interactive installations that combine traditional and new media technologies.
Source: Vancouver Art Gallery