Friday June 20th, 2014 Vancouver Biennale opens borders It was born in Venice, and after crossing an ocean and a century, landed on North Vancouver's waterfront with the intention of staying the summer. The Vancouver Biennale's 2014-2016 exhibition is upon us. Inspired by that first festival in 1895, the Biennale is a festival with films, art installations, and museums drenched in sunshine. "The open air museum brings neighbourhoods together and people together," says Vancouver Biennale president Barrie Mowatt. Learn more Thursday June 19th, 2014 A Master Class With Oliver Stone – Your first film. The Djavad Mowafaghian theatre at SFU Woodwards is no stranger to student films. Ever since the school opened its doors in 2010, emerging filmmakers have screened their work here. This past weekend, the Vancouver Biennale presented a special student film. The biggest difference? Last Year in Vietnam was directed by Academy Award-winner Oliver Stone. Learn more Thursday June 19th, 2014 Present, future realities explored For their Vancouver Biennale artists-in- residence project, Pallavi Paul and Sahej Rahal plan to present Squamish residents with a film depicting a vision of the community at some point in the future. But though it may contain an element of science fiction, it’s intended to be completely grounded in present realities. Learn more Wednesday June 18th, 2014 Oliver Stone Presents – Moody Middle School students meet the acclaimed director. Friday early afternoon, June 13, students of Moody Middle School, plus a few parents, teachers, and assorted high school students, attended a screening at Port Moody’s Inlet theatre. They watched film director Oliver Stone’s new television documentary, An Untold History of the United States. What happened next seemed a little surreal, but Mr. Stone himself arrived, entered the lobby and strolled into the theatre, took a seat on a stool at the front of the theatre, and introduced himself before taking 90 minutes’ worth of questions from the gathered. Learn more Wednesday June 18th, 2014 Public art a powerful force Next time you pass the intersection of 21st and Lonsdale take a moment and look at the new piece of public art situated in the green space just south of the Gordon Smith Gallery. The art piece, called The Meeting, was created by Chinese sculptor Wang Shugang and is composed of eight life-sized squatting red men grouped in a circle. It’s a beautiful piece of work that stimulates an immediate response from the viewer and has the unique facility of drawing someone in. The Meeting was one of the most photographed pieces of public art in Vancouver’s international sculpture Biennale and now it makes North Vancouver its home for the next two years. Learn more Wednesday June 18th, 2014 Os Gêmeos on the seduction of graffiti art Jian speaks with one half of twin brother team Os Gêmeos, internationally celebrated graffiti artist Gustavo Pandolfo. The artist reflects on his work and how his home city of São Paulo has become a haven for street art. Listen here   Learn more Tuesday June 17th, 2014 Le cinéaste Oliver Stone de passage à Vancouver La Biennale de Vancouver a invité le célèbre cinéaste américain Oliver Stone a venir parler de son engagement social et de l'importance de l'éducation avec sa série documentaire Untold story of the United States. Marie Villeneuve l'a rencontré.     Learn more Monday June 16th, 2014 Oliver Stone – Re: History. Oliver Stone is a natural born storyteller. Ask the legendary director if he’s been to Vancouver before, and he launches into a tale that involves a damsel in distress, a white knight, and, because this is Oliver Stone, a not entirely happy ending. “I saved a beautiful young woman many years ago in one of my heroic gestures, in 1978 or 7. I met her in Los Angeles, and she got involved in a strange cult, one of the quasi-scientific, quasi-religious cults. She ended up, according to her, imprisoned in the cult maybe 100 miles from Vancouver. I actually went up there. I got her out. She was completely nuts to begin with, but she was even nuttier after that,” he says with a slight smile and a mild shrug of his brow, in a what-are-you-gonna-do gesture. “We had an interesting relationship.” Learn more Monday June 16th, 2014 Interview with Jenna Tenn-Yuk Ariana Barer speaks with Jenna Tenn-Yuk, spoken word artist, public speaker, educator and singer-songwriter from Mississauga, Ontario. She is one of the artists-in-residence with The Vancouver Biennale celebrating public art where she will lead spoken word poetry workshops, culminating in a public event and dialogue at the end of the month focusing on bringing together voices from lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, Christian, and feminist communities to foster conversations and peace building through spoken word. Learn more Friday June 13th, 2014 Stone brings American history lesson to Canada via Vancouver Biennale The Vancouver Biennale – which brings public art such as A-maze-ing Laughter to the city – wanted to go big with the launch of its new film program. So it found a legendary Hollywood figure to help. Earlier this year, Biennale founder and artistic director Barrie Mowatt was at a documentary film festival in Palm Springs with Oliver Stone, and asked the director whether he might come to Vancouver to inaugurate CineFest Live.   Learn more Friday June 13th, 2014 Oliver Stone Turns Hawk Eye on American History Oliver Stone says he’s still in recovery. “When I was young, I was brainwashed by the American history that I learned. It was benign, a Disney version of events,” says the three-time Oscar-winning director. “But now I’m interested in the underside … and making it accessible.” Learn more Wednesday June 11th, 2014 Oliver Stone takes on a snowless Vancouver as he announces plans for Snowden film VANCOUVER — Oliver Stone says he’s still in recovery. “When I was young, I was brainwashed by the American history that I learned. It was benign, a Disney version of events,” says the three-time Oscar-winning director. “But now I’m interested in the underside … and making it accessible.” Learn more Wednesday June 11th, 2014 Oliver Stone’s The Untold History of the United States looks for the truth A remarkable thing happened after the release of Oliver Stone’s JFK in 1991. “The JFK Records Act was passed [the following year] as a result of the brouhaha around the film,” Stone himself says, talking to the Georgia Straight from Los Angeles. “The congressmen were trying to prove that no conspiracy had happened, that the Warren Commission had been on the up-and-up. And it wasn’t on the up-and-up.” Learn more Wednesday June 11th, 2014 “I Have a Dream” Pietrasanta Cultivating peace and building community through art Dreams are being born in Pietrasanta, as we type this. “I Have a Dream” is a project by Indian artist Shweta Bhattad, which will be presented at the 2014/2016 Vancouver Biennale with a giant video-installation. All countries can participate and Italy is represented by Tatiana Villani, with the use of the land – and the active help of – Argentinian artist and farmer Silvina Spravkin and her husband Mariano Moriconi. There is a wide network of other participants from Pietrasanta’s Luogo Comune, and other associations. Learn more Thursday May 29th, 2014 Acceptance takes centre stage in Surrey “Girls have to be pretty.” “Boys have to be strong.” “Girls must be polite.” “Boys have muscles.” As the words were read, Grade 4 and 5 students from Simon Cunningham Elementary danced on the Bell Performing Arts Centre stage last week, exploring the array of gender stereotypes common in society. At the end, they shouted “Diversity is our strength!” Learn more Wednesday May 21st, 2014 Post Past | A Vancouver Biennale & VNB Photo Exhibition Project For its 3rd edition, the Vancouver Biennale has invited Virginie Lamarche and Bastien Desfriches Doria of VNB Photo to create a new photographic portfolio in documentation of all guest artists, curators and residency coordinators involved with the 2014-2016 Vancouver Biennale programs. Learn more Wednesday May 14th, 2014 I HAVE A DREAM, NASCONO SOGNI IN VERSILIA PIETRASANTA. I sogni nascono in Versilia. A Pietrasanta è in corso la realizzazione del progetto artistico “Ho un sogno” che verrà presentato alla Biennale di Vancouver 2014/2016, all’interno del progetto “I Have a Dream”, in una gigantesca video- installazione realizzata e progettata dall’artista indiana Shweta Bhattad. Learn more Tuesday May 13th, 2014 Vancouver’s West End takes the long view for future success An award-winning marketing campaign and plans for a revitalized community plan have put the neighbourhood on a positive path. Learn more Thursday May 8th, 2014 Art hand in hand with nature For over 20 years, the work that merges art and  sustainable design  Gaucho Hugo France gained recognition on the international scene. His functional pieces made ​​fromtrunks of aged tree, bring, according to himself, "the nature of returns to human society." Interested in this organic resurrection, those responsible for the Vancouver Biennale invited the gaucho designer to spend a season in Canada and produce ecofriendly replacement for the 2014-2015 edition. 's first destination was the designer Squamish, where blazed the nature and the characteristics of known local wood. After he left for Vancouver, 60 km away, and ended the search for parts that would use into your new creations. After choosing ten trees doomed by nature or by man, turned them into huge pieces of art - furniture that will serve the public in both years of the Biennale - while developing workshops with the local population. Learn more Wednesday May 7th, 2014 Controversial Art Green Lighted Get ready New Westminster for four big, rusty transport containers sticking out of Westminster Pier Park. Or be prepared to be wowed by a beautiful piece of public art. It's up to the eye of the beholder to determine which statement is true. Like it or not, the work—Wow New Westminster—will soon grace the city's riverfront. Learn more