• Artist Talks
  • Installation
  • Free
  • Schedule Change

Capitalism Works For Me! True/False

Showing on Jan 22-24

Playing at Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch

Steve Lambert, USA

Note: Due to transport delays, this show will open Saturday at January at 11:30am and will run as scheduled until January 24th. The online panel discussion on January 20 will proceed as planned.

Steve Lambert’s installation is nothing if not blunt: the artist has constructed an interactive, street-level billboard that allows citizens to vote on capitalism in its relation to their own lives, with the tally reset each day. One could call the project an ideological scorecard, or an implicit index of popular happiness. By framing the issue in personal terms, Lambert provokes respondents into examining their own choices and standards—it’s an end-run around the dissociation we so often fall victim to when discussing ideology.

Hosted by: Alexa Fraser, Carmen Aguirre, Howard Dai, Laurie M Landry, Reza Zandi and Sebastien Archibald

Speaking of discussion, Lambert is willing to take things further than a simple yes/no binary: hosts will be on-site at the installation, ready to engage passers by in conversations about their lifestyles, their beliefs, and any other topic that falls under the enormous umbrella of capitalism. Inspired, accessible, and generative, this work dares to put forth a question that our leaders work so hard to bury, but which we have a right— even a duty—to consider.

To launch this installation, Vancouver Public Library is hosting an online conversation that will address important questions like: Are perceptions of capitalism changing? Who does this system benefit or leave behind? And why don’t we hear more (and better) mainstream discussions about whether capitalism is working for us?

This event will be on Thursday, January 20 at 12pm. You can find details and register here: Is Capitalism Working for Us?

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Artist Bio

Steve Lambert

Sixteen countries, four continents, over a thousand compatriots: those are the numbers on genial provocateur Steve Lambert. A master of the large-scale art event, he has taken it to the streets with comedy, theatre, visual art, and more—political change is the goal, and public participation is the means. An assistant professor at SUNY Purchase, Lambert is also the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Artistic Activism.

Venue

Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch

350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver

Showtimes

  • January 22: 11:30-4:00
  • January 23: 11:30-4:00
  • January 24: 11:30-4:00

This is a non-ticketed show. You can visit any time on:

  • January 22, 11:30-4 (available in ASL)
  • January 23, 11:30-4 (available in ASL)
  • January 24, 11:30-4

Hosted by: Alexa Fraser, Carmen Aguirre, Howard Dai, Laurie M Landry, Reza Zandi and Sebastien Archibald

Online conversation with panelists Steve Lambert, Alejandra Bravo, and Joel Bakan, moderated by CBC Vancouver News host, Anita Bathe on January 20 at noon. Click here to access event

Tickets

Free event, no reservation or ticket necessary

Access

Icon signalling a low vision friendly performance

Low Vision Friendly, sighted guides are available upon request

Icon signalling a relaxed performance (casual or low sensory)

This experience is Extra Live, meaning it is always a Relaxed

Icon signalling a performance with signed interpretation

Available in ASL

 

One of our hosts, Laurie Landry, is Deaf, so participants can have the conversation in ASL.
Laurie will be there at the following times:
January 22, 11:30-4
January 23, 11:30-4

 

 

Credits

Originally created at SPACES in Cleveland, OH with engineering assistance from Alex Reben and Avatar Robert Zacharias.

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