SFU’s Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum presents Edge Effects

Simon Fraser University marks the grand opening of the transformative new facility, the Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum, on Sept. 20. Featuring an award-winning design by Hariri Pontarini Architects, the 12,000-square-foot museum features BC-sourced mass timber and engineered hardwood floors, and expansive windows that connect the warm interior with the landscape, fostering a sense of openness for visitors within an intimate setting. The inaugural exhibition Edge Effects is a group show featuring 15 critically acclaimed Canadian artists. The title is a reference to the ecological term “edge effect,” which describes the conditions created where two adjacent ecological communities meet, such as an estuary between a river and the ocean. This results in a rich and complex co-existence between species that would otherwise never have the chance to interact. In this vein, the museum explores its position at the boundary of academia and the public, and the participating artists of the inaugural exhibition consider edges in their practices that challenge disciplinary, material, and historical boundaries. The exhibition features a combination of new commissioned works and projects never before seen by audiences in Canada, such as Liz Magor’s Blue Students/Alumnos en azul (1997). The public project centred on photographic portraits of students along the San Diego-Tijuana border, and will resonate with contemporary viewers as it confronts the still-pressing issue about the power of circumstance and chance across borders. Cindy Mochizuki will create a new semi-permanent installation on the museum’s hearth — located at the heart of the building — that draws from kodama, Japanese forest spirits, and considers how trees experience non-linear time. Other artists include Lorna Brown, Justine A. Chambers, Patrick Cruz, Lucien Durey, Sameer Farooq, Elisa Ferrari, Germaine Koh, Debra Sparrow, and Jin-me Yoon. 

Admission to the Gibson Art Museum is free. Visit gibson.sfu.ca for more information.