Featuring work by artist Hong-Kai Wang, vertigo of swallows in my ear is on view at the Libby Leshgold Gallery through Apr. 19, with an artist talk and book launch on Mar. 26 at 6 pm.
A new exhibition at Libby Leshgold Gallery at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) places the gallery within an expansive international community and models new ways of working for ECU students.
vertigo of swallows in my ear, featuring work by Taiwanese artist Hong-Kai Wang with Haytham el-Wardany, Phoebe Giannisi, Gavin Steingo and Matariki Williams, builds upon a show marking the opening of the Taichung Art Museum in Taiwan, currently on view through April 2026.
“Hong-Kai is highly collaborative and her projects happen slowly, often over years. I wanted her to meet our students and faculty because she offers a unique perspective on what an artist can do, what research and collaboration can be, and what it means to be embedded in a community for a long period of time,” says Bopha Chhay, Associate Curator for Galleries and Exhibitions at ECU, who helped produce the Taichung exhibition and invited Hong-Kai to extend the work with a show at the Libby Leshgold Gallery.
“Working with Hong-Kai and travelling to Taiwan also aligned with some of our research interests at the gallery — specifically, shifting our understanding of our location away from the standardized centres of the art world and asking what it means to be working in the wider Asia Pacific region.”
Bopha notes this question animates several other projects the gallery is currently developing overseas in places like Australia and New Zealand, as well as past projects, including a 2025 appearance at the Taipei Art Book Fair and a 2024 exhibition featuring MediaSonyo 미디어소녀.
“These kinds of collaboration are tremendously important for us at Libby Leshgold, and at ECU more broadly,” says Vanessa Kwan, Director + Curator, Galleries + Exhibitions at ECU. “Projects like these highlight the importance of supporting embedded, ongoing, research-based relationships with artists, through which we enter remarkable international conversations.”
vertigo of swallows in my ear forms part of Hong-Kai’s ongoing research into kua a tseh, Taiwanese ballad booklets. With a focus on how these songs have been interpreted, improvised and sung over time, Hong-Kai reveals their emphasis on collective forms of authorship, particularly during times of social and political upheaval.
“Hong-Kai is predominantly a sound artist, and she works with a lot of people from different generations to uncover hidden histories through memory work,” Bopha says. “These are embodied histories — they reside in the bodies of people as opposed to history books. Practices of listening and sound are the ways she thinks about these things. They’re a form of communication that isn’t written or official. So, they’re a way of questioning power and conducting a search for clarity and truth.”
The accompanying publication, titled Our Prophecies Don’t Suit Words Anymore and edited by Hong-Kai and Bopha, includes contributions by four esteemed artists and writers, and expands the show’s scope and themes. Co-published by Libby Leshgold Gallery and Taichung Art Museum as part of Hong-Kai’s exhibition in Taiwan, the book is available at READ Books at ECU.
Hong-Kai will visit ECU from Mar. 23 to Apr. 2 to give an artist talk and speak with students and faculty about her work. Her visit will support Bopha and the gallery team’s work mobilizing the exhibition as a learning support for students.
“Hong-Kai’s work is very context dependent and relational, meaning its shape is always changing depending on who is in the room with her. That style informs her work as a teacher as well,” Bopha says. “In other words, interacting and working alongside Hong-Kai means taking responsibility for what you bring to a space. I think that’s why her students really love her, and it’s why I’m really excited for her to meet the students at ECU .”
vertigo of swallows in my ear is on view at the Libby Leshgold Gallery through April 19, 2026. Hong-Kai’s artist talk and book launch will take place Mar. 26 at 6pm. Attendance is free and open to the public.
More About the Libby Leshgold Gallery
Libby Leshgold Gallery is a public art gallery dedicated to the presentation of contemporary art. Located within Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Canada, the gallery serves a broad and varied community that includes the students, faculty and staff of the university, the arts community, the public of Greater Vancouver and visitors from around the world.
Visit their website to learn more.
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