VIVA Alliance's Plasticity exhibition opens at Roundhouse with 17 artists

VIVA Alliance opens its fourth annual juried exhibition, Plasticity, at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre from September 9 to 16, exploring how materials and minds transform under pressure.

The 17 selected artists engage with the theme through various media — image-making, installation, sound, video, performance, digital media and interdisciplinary work. All rely on plasticity, the capacity of materials to be shaped and reformed into something new. The exhibition draws a parallel to human neurology: brains and nervous systems are plastic too, with neural pathways and synapses continuously altered by experience.

VIVA Alliance frames the theme as a counterpoint to purely celebratory understandings of flexibility and adaptation. "In a contemporary moment shaped by acceleration, displacement, environmental change, self-optimization, and constant reinvention, Plasticity offers a reflection on how we navigate the pressures of existing in a state of continuous formation," the organization states.

The opening reception runs September 9 from 6 to 9 p.m. A conversation moderated by VIVA Alliance director Shadi Shadbahr and writer Bahar Mohazabnia with artists Golriz Rezvani, Jason Stovall and Nicolas Latulippe takes place September 12 at 3 p.m. Artist Anna Ugolkova performs September 13 at 1 p.m., followed by a virtual artist talk by Katya Anderson on September 14 at 6 p.m.

HighOnCity reported in June on an artist examining Vancouver's "world-class" ambitions during World Cup preparations. The Roundhouse, located in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, has hosted VIVA Alliance exhibitions since the organization's founding.