Western Front

Exhibition by Rosamunde Bordo Opening reception: May 2, 2026, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Western Front is pleased to present 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸, a solo exhibition by Vancouver-based artist Rosamunde Bordo. The exhibition brings together new metal-cast, woodworked, glass blown, and sewn objects, alongside video. These forms resemble clues or magical instruments, positioning the figures of the detective, the magician, and the artist as corresponding frameworks for making meaning through intuition and association, iteration and sleight of hand. @rrosa_moon — Image: Rosamunde Bordo, 𝘛𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘋-𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳 (2026), video still. Courtesy of the artist.

Missed the launch of 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘝é𝘳𝘪𝘵é: 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢? Here’s another chance to pick up Western Front’s latest publication at the @vancouverartbookfair this weekend. A Maior’s second novella emerged from a series of workshops led at Western Front in February 2025, where participants collectively built a supernatural murder mystery through improvisation, LARPing, speed dating, and exquisite corpse-style writing exercises. Set in a fictional strip mall in Marpole, the novella drifts through commerce, fashion, and popular culture to conjure a portrait of contemporary retail life. Featuring contributions from James Albers, Kathy Feng, Manon Fraser, Fiona Glen, Tiziana La Melia, Ben Lickerman, Trey Le, August Mesic, Nina Ortiz, Paige Smid, Kiel Torres, and Yasmine Whaley-Kalaora. Visit Western Front at the Vancouver Art Book Fair at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre to get your copy! 📚 Retail Vérité: Vancouverama — $25

Western Front is pleased to participate in the 2026 @vancouverartbookfair , a free multi-day celebration of artists’ publishing. Bringing together more than one hundred local, national, and international publishers, VABF features a dynamic program of talks, workshops, and artists’ projects. Visit our table at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre to browse and purchase a selection of Western Front publications. Fair Hours Friday, May 15: 5–9 p.m. Saturday, May 16: 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday, May 17: 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Link in bio for more info.

“Magic Show,” now on view at Western Front presents a solo exhibition of works by 2019 Audain Travel Award recipient, Rosamunde Bordo. In “Magic Show,”Bordo continues her ongoing interdisciplinary project “The Denise File,” a work of serial detective fiction shaped through objects, installations, and material encounters. Since 2018, the project has evolved from a collection of found postcards addressed to a woman named Denise, inspiring a body of work that blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality. Through ritual, investigation, and hands-on experimentation, “Magic Show” transforms the gallery into a space of correspondence and conjuring. Talismans, found objects, and carefully constructed forms act simultaneously as evidence, symbols, and vessels of supernatural resonance. As Denise becomes more vividly imagined, she also becomes increasingly elusive in her real construction, revealing how meaning, belief, and identity are constructed through relationships to objects and stories. “Magic Show,” curated by Kiel Torres @kielllingmesoftly is on view until July 25, 2026. Images: Rosamunde Bordo “Magic Show” at Western Front Installation shots Courtesy of the artist and Western Front Photo credits to Dennis Ha @western_front @audainartmuseum @rrosa_moon #AudainTravelAward #RosamundeBordo

Thank you to Zeena Parkins and William Winant for an extraordinary evening at Western Front on Saturday. Their performance of 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 and 𝘓𝘈𝘊𝘌 2 was deeply memorable, and a powerful reminder of the possibilities of experimental music and live performance. We’re also incredibly grateful to everyone who joined us and filled the Grand Luxe Hall with such warmth, attention, and curiosity. Thank you for supporting adventurous artistic practices and for being part of this community. @zpribbon @steakatto — Image: Zeena Parkins and William Winant performing 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by @racheltophamphotography

Introducing our current artist-in-residence Ami Xherro, who will present an open rehearsal of material from her work-in-progress 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳 on Thursday, May 14, 2026 from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. Ami Xherro works across poetry, performance, sound, and video to examine how the self is transcribed and shared. She is the author of 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬, 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 (Guernica Editions, 2023), which won the 2024 Nelson Ball Prize, and the chapbooks 𝘕𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 / 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 co-written with Benjamin de Boer (Solipcyst, 2025), and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 (Swimmers Group, 2017). She is a co-founder of the Toronto Experimental Translation Collective, which seeks to renegotiate relationships within and across languages and media via collaborative seminars, workshops, and performances. — Image: Portrait of Ami Xherro. Photo by Raymond Tran (@raymondtra ).

Open Rehearsal by Ami Xherro May 14, 2026, 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. Free Admission Join our current artist-in-residence Ami Xherro for an open exploration of material from her work-in-progress 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳. Of the work, Xherro says: 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳 is a multi-surface project about lying down and splaying out. 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳 dwells in the pleasures of suspension, taking up those infoldings in the flesh where I stretches out languorously. Using altered writing states to collapse the encyclopedic form with the diary entry, 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳 demands overtime for the unemployed dreamer. For this session, visitors are invited into a shared, informal reading and performance space. A bed will be installed in the middle of the Grand Luxe Hall as a gathering point, where those present are invited to speak, sing, or read from printed pages of 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳, which will be loosely arranged throughout the space. Visitors are welcome to come and go as they wish over the course of the evening. Link in bio for more info. @amixherro

This Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 7:30 p.m., don’t miss a special performance by composer, harpist, and improviser Zeena Parkins with longtime collaborator percussionist William Winant. Together, they will perform works from Parkins’s release 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 (Tzadik Records, 2025), written for harp, percussion, and electronics. The album is inspired by American artist Jay DeFeo and her series 𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮 (1989)—drawings that evolve a seven-sided form derived from a pink cup gifted by sculptor Ron Nagle. This central shape becomes the structural and conceptual foundation for Parkins’s music, shaping its rhythm, texture, and form. Tickets are selling fast, get yours via the link in bio. @zpribbon @steakatto — Images: Zeena Parkins with William Winant performing 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 at Roulette, New York, photo documentation, March 22, 2026. Photos by @peter.gannushkin / downtownmusic.net

Our newest exhibition, 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸 by Rosamunde Bordo, opens today! Join us for the opening reception from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing you there! @rrosa_moon — Image: 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘰: 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸, installation view, May 2 – Jul 25, 2026. Photo by @dennisha.photo .

Introducing Rosamunde Bordo, whose solo exhibition 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸 opens this week at Western Front. Join us for the opening reception on Saturday, May 2, 2026 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Rosamunde Bordo is an artist based in Vancouver, Canada. Working through the logic of the detective genre, her practice collapses fiction and reality to probe how meaning, subjectivity, and belief are constructed relationally through material encounters. Her research unfolds through free association, analogy, and hands-on experimentation to question the assumed boundaries of the everyday. Her past projects have comprised handmade furniture, gemstones, intercepted letters, unrequited love, astrology, a stranger’s to-do list, magical alphabets, bread, wool, carrot tops, life drawing, table salt, tarot, television, small trees, hand-knitted sweaters, and a missing housecoat. @rrosa_moon — Image: Portrait of Rosamunde Bordo. Photo by @racheltophamphotography

Calling all BC-based makers 📣 Applications for Toque Craft Fair are now open! This is your chance to share your work with a vibrant community of artists, designers, and craft lovers at one of Vancouver’s most beloved seasonal markets, taking place @western_front from Dec 4–6, 2026. Whether you’re working in textiles, ceramics, print, jewellery, or something beautifully hard to categorize, Toque Craft Fair celebrates thoughtful, handmade, and locally rooted practices. ⏰ Application deadline: Jun 30, 2026 📍 Open to makers of any age based in British Columbia Apply now via the link in bio — Image: Ami Sangha at Toque Craft Fair, Dec 6, 2025. Photo by @racheltophamphotography

Toque Craft Fair returns to Western Front from Dec 4 – 6, 2026, and our open call for vendors is now live! Are you a BC artist, designer, or craftsperson with work to share? We welcome makers of all ages and practices—individuals and collectives alike—to apply and be part of our vibrant community of vendors. Apply now at toquecraftfair.com or via the link in bio. Applications close Jun 30, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.