Sasquatch! 2011 What a workout! By Julia Siedlanowska s a youth who is interested in the indie music scene, I’ve noticed that the Sasquatch music festival has become somewhat of a right of passage. Taking place at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington, thousands of people (mostly teens and young adults, with the occasional geezer of thirty or forty) come together for a four day festival full of music. This year’s line-up featured over a hundred artists such as Death From Above 1979, Foo Fighters, K- OS, Local Natives, Chromeo, Dan Mangan, Modest Mouse and Bassnectar. Tickets for the festival are $285 (this includes camping from Thursday to Monday night), and $150 extra for premier camping. I went for the premier camping (which, split amongst myself and those sharing my tent, wasn’t too hard on the wallet), and this included access to showers, a shuttle service to the venue (about a ten to fifteen minute walk from the campground) and even porcelain, flushing toilets! The main difference I noticed between general and premier camping however, was that the average light’s out time for premier was about twelve o’clock, while I don’t recall any for general. There was an abundant mix of up-and-coming and established indie, folk, rock and electro bands performing on four stages throughout the festival. Some highlights were Death Cab for Cutie’s incredible set and Foster the People pumping up the crowd (with people climbing rooftops to get a better view) with their hit “Pumped up Kicks.” Rodrigo y Gabriela amazed all with their super speedy fingers playing the living daylights out of their guitars. The Flaming lips had a crowd pleasing show (catering largely to those into psychedelic drugs) featuring lead singer Wayne Coyne crawling on top of the audience in a man sized bubble, tons of confetti, rainbow lights, and video clips of Teletubbies (their music itself however, was not as spectacular as the special effects). The Decemberists played a magnificent set that had the crowd screaming as they asked for our participation in making the sounds of being swallowed by a whale for their song “The Mariners Revenge.” The Gorge Amphitheatre is a beautiful venue with strict security. Lines were lengthy as security checked all bags and persons for drugs and alcohol. Beverages and food were available inside, but with prices like twelve dollars per beer, it’s no wonder patrons tried to smuggle as much in as they could. One downfall of the festival was that there were no in-and-out privileges from the venue. Shows ran basically from 12pm to 12am, so you had to bring enough food to last you the day (or suffer the consequences of nine dollar and twenty five cent chicken strips). With three water stations (two of which I had no idea about) for more than twenty two thousand people, sometimes it took more than thirty minutes to get water (hopefully they will take note of this for next year’s festival). All in all, Sasquatch had all the elements that make up a good time, and provided a nice infrastructure for the community of indie-folk music. However, if you’re not up for a crash course in non- stop partying, perhaps it’s safer to listen at home. Bird. The colour of my dreams: The surrealist revolution in art Vancouver Art Gallery’s groundbreaking new exhibit By Sharon Miki ow comfortable are you with He unconscious self —the facets of yourself that reside just beneath the surface? What colour are your dreams? The Vancouver Art Gallery’s beguiling new summer exhibit, The Colour of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art, examines these questions with an often-exuberant collection of strange and absorbing Surrealist works. Surrealism is a cultural movement that became visible in the 1920’s following French writer André Breton’s writing of the Manifesto of Surrealism in 1924. As the aesthetic and principles of surrealistic work spread around the world, artists began creating work that expressed an appreciation for radical experimentation and ideas of unconscious thought. As such, for The Colour of My Dreams, guest curator Dawn Ades selected 350 featured works of art from more than 60 artists which present a disharmonic medley of mediums—from paint, sculpture, sketches, collage, photography and film. The Colour of My Dreams pays particular attention to First Nations art from the Pacific Northwest— British Columbia and Alaska—of which many Surrealists were collectors and admirers. While most of the “fathers” of the movement, such as Breton, resided in Europe, the exhibit emphasizes many Surrealists’ fascination with the distinct style and originality of First Nations art. This distinct style is embodied in a Kwakwaka’ wakw Peace Dance headdress once owned by Breton; the mixtures of media, colours and symbols in the headdress provide an interesting contrast with the Surrealist pieces that surround the exhibit. Another unusual aspect of the exhibit is a section dubbed “The Exquisite Corpse,” in which an assortment of collaborative art is displayed. The Exquisite Corpse is a game where a group of artists would each add a piece to a work—without seeing the previous contributions of others. The resulting “corpses” are odd and beautiful shared works that epitomize the freedom and experimentation of the Surrealist — movement. ; Amidst the complex array of works, one piece stands apart in its simplicity. Spanish artist Joan Mirdé’s painting “This is the Colour of My Dreams” lends its name to the Vancouver exhibit and stands apart in its minimalism. The cursive word “Photo,” a splotch of blue paint, and the text “ceci est le couleur de mes réves” (“this is the colour of my dreams”) are all that adorn the white canvas, prompting the viewer to engage in thoughts with the tenets of surrealism. Strange and yet not disturbing, beautiful and yet often ugly, this is a complex and mind-boggling exhibit worth seeing, several times in person (if not in dreams). The Colour of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art can be found at the Vancouver Art Gallery from May 28 to September 25, 2011. Student admission is $16 with valid student ID, although Tuesdays after 5pm admission is by donation.