Current Events and Exhibitions
Settle Down, Not There
Opening Reception: April 17, 6pm–8pm
Exhibition Dates: April 17–June 20, 2026
Gallery Gachet
9 W Hastings Street.
Settle Down, Not There is guest curated by Gachet curator-in-residence Maya Rodrigo-Abdi. The exhibition will feature work from Vancouver artists Vanessa Mercedes Figueroa, Phillip McCrum, Gibson Switzer, and Ian Wallace. Parts of their practices will accompany each other for the duration of this exhibition, ranging from a derelict dreamhouse that has been raised from the dead, to the fractured sounds of voicemails recovered from a disconnected number. The series of separations constructed by these artists allow us to reorient our understanding of Vancouver, seen here as a site of social fragmentation that is predicated on economies of feigned absence.
Artist Talk at Gachet — In Conversation with Gibson Switzer and Ian Wallace (Moderated by Helga Pakasaar)
Friday, May 8th, 6–7pm
Gallery Gachet
9 W Hastings Street.
Join us for an artist talk with Gibson Switzer and Ian Wallace, moderated by Helga Pakasaar, in conjunction with Settle Down, Not There. This conversation will reflect on the legacies of Vancouver photoconceptualism and the continued relevance of staged image-making within the city. Bringing together Wallace’s foundational engagement with the photographic image as both document and constructed surface, and Switzer’s carefully staged, often deadpan scenes that blur observation with subtle satire, the discussion will consider how photography operates between fiction and reality.
Curator Talk at Gachet — Ophelia Zhao in conversation with Maya Rodrigo–Abdi
Friday, May 29th, 6–7pm
Gallery Gachet
9 W Hastings Street.
Join us for a curator talk with Ophelia Zhao, in conversation with Maya Rodrigo-Abdi, curator of Settle Down, Not There. The conversation will offer insight into their respective practices and expand upon the dialogues formed around this exhibition. Bringing together Zhao’s interest in the material and speculative lives of objects, and Rodrigo-Abdi’s focus on the politics of the built environment and systems of viewing, the discussion will consider how a critical curatorial approach can reframe relationships between objects, space, and narrative.
Found Poetry Workshop with Sierra Louie
Wednesday, June 10th, 6–8pm
Gallery Gachet
9 W Hastings Street.
Join us for a found poetry workshop led by writer and illustrator Sierra Louie. Working with magazines and other existing texts, participants will explore processes of selection, erasure, and rearrangement to create new poetic forms. Attending to language as material, the workshop invites a close engagement with what is revealed, obscured, and reimagined through acts of reading and rewriting
Artist Talk at Gachet — In Conversation with Vanessa Mercedes Figueroa and Phillip McCrum (Moderated by Gareth James)
Friday, June 19th, 6–7pm
Gallery Gachet
9 W Hastings Street.
Join artists Vanessa Mercedes Figueroa and Phillip McCrum in conversation, moderated by Gareth James. Working across installation, sound, and image, both artists engage questions of absence, displacement, and the fragmentation of lived experience. Drawing on processes of accumulation, found objects, and material reuse, their practices attend to how meaning is constructed through what is gathered, discarded, and reassembled. This discussion will consider how their works unfold within Settle Down, Not There, and how narrative, memory, and material intersect within the exhibition.
Gachet Writer’s Group
Fridays, 10:30 am –12:30pm
Recovery Café (a program of The Kettle Society)
620 Clark Dr, Vancouver
The Gachet Writers Group is commited to creating space for collective reflection, experimentation, and care through writing. Everyone is welcome—whether you write often or are just beginning.
Drop-In Art Sessions
Tuesdays, 2-4pm
Gallery Gachet
9 W Hastings Street.
Everyone is invited to Gallery Gachet Tuesdays from 2-4 pm to participate in drop-in style art sessions facilitated by Amelia Rodriguez. The facilitator is present to talk through ideas, expand artists' material and conceptual repertoire, or to simply provide space, time, and encouragement to create artwork and social connections on participants' own terms. Materials are provided and include watercolor paint, paper, brushes, and coloured pencils.