Urban Screen at ECU Features Film Works by Leading International Artists

A new series of video works on the outdoor Urban Screen at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) spotlights an international roster of artists and filmmakers working at the forefront of motion media disciplines.

Many of the works also reflect the Libby Leshgold Gallery’s increasingly dynamic program of support for artists working in film, video and animation, says Troy Johnson, curatorial assistant at the gallery.

“One of the questions we’ve been asking with this latest batch of commissions is how we can support an artist’s practice in the long run, as opposed to simply supporting the work,” Troy says. Such support includes introducing artists to the gallery’s network of creative professionals and connecting them with ECU’s world-class shop and studio resources.

“We’ve been working closely with these artists and with a lot of intentionality and care,” Troy continues. “It’s felt very symbiotic and has helped generate an exciting and robust series of works.”

Located outdoors in the campus’ southeastern plaza, the Urban Screen is an initiative of the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Program in conjunction with the Libby Leshgold Gallery at ECU. The screen engages with a diverse audience, visible to passersby as well as students, faculty, staff and individuals living and working in the surrounding area.

Nadia Shihab’s 2024 work Sitting Room, 1987, which is showing on the screen through March 18, 2025, is an example of the gallery’s project of renewed support. Troy, alongside Bopha Chhay, associate curator for galleries and exhibitions at ECU, and Vanessa Kwan, director + curator of galleries and exhibitions, conducted a lengthy studio visit with Nadia to speak about how the artist might build upon existing materials to create the new work.

They also introduced Nadia to ECU’s Communication Design Studio, where she is working with staff technicians on a forthcoming risograph-printed publication.

Additionally, the gallery connected interdisciplinary drag collective House of Rice with ECU’s Film + Screen Arts department to use a greenscreen for an on-campus shoot related to 米之家, which will appear on the Urban Screen beginning March 19, 2025.

And in 2024, gallery staff worked with artist Miriam Berndt and participants in ECU’s Integration Motion Studio to create a collaborative sound collage that served as accompaniment for the artist’s work fertile ground, which was showing on the Urban Screen at the time.

Bopha notes these connections represent a deepening of ties throughout the Vancouver arts community, as well as between the gallery, artists and the university. In strengthening these ties, the gallery advocates for practitioners and disciplines that might otherwise struggle to find validation in typical “visual arts” contexts.

“The screen is distinctly different from the rest of the gallery’s programming,” Bopha says. “Broadly speaking, we have a strong focus on visual arts, but the screen is also a platform for new media, sound art, animation, illustration and other practices that have disparate forms of presentation. It’s always thrilling to work with different types of artists and different areas of the school. It feels especially rewarding that students from those disciplines can see their practices reflected in our programming.”

The Urban Screen operates daily from 8 A.M. to 9 P.M. and can be viewed publicly and free of charge. Click through the folders below to learn more about upcoming screenings.

An artist talk and publication launch for Nadia Shihab will take place at 7 P.M. on March 13, 2025, in the Integration Motion Studio at ECU. Attendance is free and open to the public. Follow the gallery on Instagram for updates.

Visit the Libby Leshgold Gallery and City of Vancouver's Public Art Program online to learn more about their programming and initiatives.