Surrey Art Gallery presents "In the Shadow of the Pavilions: Expo 86 and Contemporary Art," an exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of Vancouver's 1986 World Exposition. Curated by Jordan Strom, the show brings together over 35 artists and features works in photography, painting, installation, performance, and video from 1984 to 1988, alongside archival materials. It examines both the official art commissioned for Expo 86 and the unofficial parallel art initiatives that emerged during Vancouver's Centennial celebrations and the fair itself, which drew nearly 22 million visitors.
This is the first exhibition to closely examine Expo 86 through its art, filling a significant gap in art-historical scholarship. While Canada's Expo 67 has been extensively studied, Expo 86's cultural legacy has been largely overlooked. By re-evaluating artworks that address themes of communication, transportation, urban development, resource extraction, and Indigenous self-determination, the exhibition offers a timely reassessment of a transformative moment in British Columbia's cultural history and its ongoing relevance to contemporary art discourse.