Part I: Multi-Site Exhibition, September 12-October 31, 2015
Part II: Conference, October 2-3, 2015

Western Front, 303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver

Urgent Imagination: Part I is a multi-site public art exhibition that will take place on the exterior of the Western Front building and surrounding areas throughout September-October 2015. The works, produced by five artists, collectives and architects, respond to the invitation to create artworks and proposals for a multi-acre site in Mount Pleasant that will inevitably be developed, one block from the Western Front. Participating artists include Assemble (London), Nils Norman (London), Other Sights for Artists' Projects (Vancouver), Urban Subjects (Vancouver/Vienna), and Holly Ward (Vancouver).

Urgent Imagination: Part II is a two-day conference that will be held at the Western Front on October 2-3, 2015 that will address these proposals in a broader discursive environment to examine how art and creative thinking can influence issues of urban planning and spatial justice. Free and open to the public, the conference will critically engage issues such as: the limits of terms like "creative class" and "community consultation"; the potential for art to be an agitator or mediator, rather than a contributor to gentrification processes; and issues around scale, scalability, urban density and affordability. In addition to presentations by participating artists, conference presenters will include Larissa Grant (Musqueam Treaty, Lands & Resources), Seema Jethalal (Daniels Spectrum, Toronto), Am Johal (SFU Vancity Office of Community Engagement), Caitlin Jones (Western Front), Mike Lombardi (Vancouver School Board), Brian McBay (221A Artist-Run Centre), Bob Williams (former City Councillor and B.C. Cabinet Minister), Annabel Vaughan (publicLAB Research + Design, Toronto), and others.

Co-presented by SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement, 221A, and Emily Carr University of Art & Design, with the generous financial support of Arts Council England, the Koerner Foundation, the the British Columbia Arts Council.