Moodyville showcases seven Vancouver artists who have produced works in response to the locale of North Vancouver. The exhibition includes photography, video, drawings and an outdoor work that forms a complex picture of North Vancouver’s sociocultural landscape, one that is still very much defined by its natural setting. The title alludes to North Vancouver’s beginnings and its strong ties to natural resource industries. The earliest industrial settlement on Burrard Inlet established in 1872, Moodyville was a prosperous sawmill community. The exhibition brings to light the shifting identities and distinctive aspects of this place, creating a unique portrait of North Vancouver.


EVENTS

EXHIBITION OPENING RECEPTION
Friday May 2, 8pm

MOODYVILLE FILM SCREENING SERIES
Thursday June 5 2008 7 pm
Empire Esplanade 6 Cinemas
200 West Esplanade, North Vancouver
ADMISSION IS FREE

An hour and a half of films about North Vancouver in conjunction with Presentation House Gallery’s current exhibition, Moodyville: Karin Bubas, Jim Breukelman, Babak Golkar, Mike Grill, Kyla Mallett, Jeremy Shaw, Dan Siney that ends on June 15. Moodyville Films looks at different lifestyles and legends of North Vancouver, past and present – hippie culture, skateboarding, extreme mountain biking, and straight edge dancing. The program includes Mudflats Living, a 1972 half-hour NFB documentary about the “counter-culture” community of squatters who lived at the Mudflats near Dollarton in an inside view of alternative lifestyles; The Seylynn Story (2006) directed by George Faulkner about North Vancouver’s world famous skateboard park built in 1978; and the already legendary film style of North Shore extreme mountain biking. Excerpts will be screened from the brand new video Seasons by The Collective and from NSX 9: Trail Tales & Other Lies by Todd Fiander of Digger Know Fear Enterprises featuring “ball busting” footage from the highest vertical drop on the North Shore. Also in the program are two video artworks by Jeremy Shaw. 7 Minutes (1995/2002) shows two teenage girls in a fistfight at a house party in North Vancouver. The tension in this mesmerizing footage of reckless youth is emphasized by Shaw’s original soundtrack as Circlesquare, with lyrics about the ever-present anxiety of living in an earthquake prone city. The slow-motion footage of Shaw’s Best Minds Part Two (2007), accompanied by an original soundtrack by Circlesquare, was shot at a straightedge dance at North Vancouver’s Seylynn Hall.

PDF Press Release for the exhibition

 Exhibition Installation views

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Moodyville is financially supported by the B.C. Arts Council Special Project Grant, Spirit of B.C. Opportunities Program, B.C. Museums Association: BC 150 Grant and District of North Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver Office of Cultural Affairs.