EMBASSY CULTURAL HOUSE
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EMBASSY CULTURAL HOUSE

Established in 1983, the Embassy Cultural House was a community-driven gallery and hosted interdisciplinary programs. It closed its physical doors in 1990. In 2020, the Embassy Cultural House was reenvisioned as a virtual artist-run space and community website.
A not-for-profit initiative, the ECH delivers its projects through a dedicated team of volunteers, partners, community contributors and angel investors. Occasional funding through project arts grants also supports the ECH to honour the principle of payment of fees to contributors.

CURRENT PROJECTS

Embassy Cultural House: 
​Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History

June 14 - June 24
Satellite Project Space
121 Dundas St, London, ON
Opening Event: Saturday, June 17, 2-5PM
Closing Event: Saturday, June 24, 2-5PM

Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History: Cloud to Street
June 14 - July 10
Jill’s Table
115 King St, London, ON
Colour by Schubert
121 King St, London, ON
Framing and Art Centre
371 Horton St. E, London, ON

Embassy Cultural House: Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History is an exhibition that charts the past and present programs of the Embassy Cultural House. Beginning with the Embassy Hotel in 1983, the exhibition acknowledges the efforts made by a network of artists and activists in London, Ontario and internationally, including the current, re-invigorated community collective initiated in 2020. The exhibition has been coordinated by Ron Benner, Jamelie Hassan, Wyn Geleynse and Olivia Mossuto. Artworks will be exhibited at the Satellite Project Space and with our community partners—Jill’s Table, Colour by Schubert and the Framing and Art Centre—through our Cloud to Street initiative. Further programming will address this legacy, in addition to an upcoming publication expected fall 2023. 
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For more information, and to view documentation of the exhibition, please click here. ​

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Year of Glass

The year 2022 was declared by UNESCO as the Year of Glass. In a publication marking the occasion, artists, glass scientists, and engineers write that it is possible to call our special moment in time as the Age of Glass. We are where we are because of glass. Because of lenses that reveal both the microscopic biological world and telescopic universes beyond ours. Because glass can be made into sinewy fibres to power a global, digital network, and because glass can have a protective transparency allowing us to access the world through our television, computer, and phone screens.

As UNESCO celebrates the past, present, and future of glass, this project by the Embassy Cultural House is as an attempt to think of glass as medium and language. Like the spoken word, artisanal glass works too require human breath to manifest. But glass is also an antithetical material. It is both “medium and barrier.” It is visibly invisible. As lenses, windowpanes, and digital screens, by allowing light to travel through it, glass makes visible another world. And by preventing air from entering and corrupting the spaces that it encases, glass can create the illusion of crystalized time. This project is a tribute to the stories that the unique malleability and materiality of glass makes possible to tell.

(Image on the left) From Scot Slessor's Clearly Canadian series.

Year of glass

​​ANONYMOUS WITNESS

Golden Kite collection (2021-2022)

 “Anonymous Witness" is an Afghan artist who remains in Afghanistan, providing visual and artistic insight into the atrocities committed by the government and the suffering of his fellow citizens. The ECH is honoured to highlight him on our website and to throw our support behind his work and his efforts to inform the world about the present situation.
View the collection
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Entezar (Prospect)
On the line waiting for food, job, freedom,
education, passport, visa etc...

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The State of Palestine
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The George Floyd Project
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A Guest + A Host = A Ghost

Visit the Hiding in Plain Sight Virtual Tour

Hiding in Plain Sight Exhibition

ONGOING DIGITAL PROJECTS @ ECH

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Afzaal Family Tribute
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name the children

ONLINE TEXTS

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Art As Engagement
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at the ECH by Marwan Hassan
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Patrick Mahon & Jeff Thomas


​Embassy Cultural House catalogue now online


It is with great pleasure that we are sharing an online version of the now out-of-print The Embassy Cultural House, 1983 to 1990 catalogue. This catalogue was published in 2012 to accompany the survey exhibit “The Embassy Cultural House, 1983 to 1990" presented at Museum London.

The late Robert (Bob) McKaskell curated the survey exhibit, and the catalogue was edited by the late Melanie Townsend. The catalogue also includes essays by historical curator Michael Baker and Toronto-based artist, educator, and activist Rebecca Deiderichs. The Museum London public program included a sold-out concert of an improvizational jazz performance by Eric Stach and local musicians.

With special thanks to Museum London, the estates of both Bob McKaskell and Melanie Townsend, all the contributors and supporters of the catalogue, and Colour by Schubert for making this publication available online to a broader public. Click here to read the catalogue online.
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In memory of curator and writer Bob McKaskell, 1943–2020

​In Memory of Bob McKaskell


It is with a heavy heart that we share the sad news that our good friend Bob McKaskell, independent curator and writer, died on June 30, 2020, from cancer.

He divided his time between Port Dover, Ontario, and Oaxaca, Mexico. While in Oaxaca, he decided to study Spanish, and he had just initiated a program of curating exhibits of Oaxacan artists in his apartment located in the centro historico of Oaxaca. He was a great cook, an excellent gardener, and his pursuit of knowledge was startlingly wide reaching. Anyone who knew Bob understood that his sometimes stubborn nature contributed to his ability to intensely focus in a very particular and detailed way to whatever subjects grabbed his interest.
 
Bob taught contemporary art history for many years at Western University. He was a huge supporter of both Canadian and international artists and had a commitment to challenging art practices, including conceptual art, performance works, and independent artists' projects. While in London, he was involved in programming at the Embassy Cultural House, the Forest City Gallery, Museum London and the McIntosh Gallery. He also worked at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, where he built strong friendships and made contributions to the arts community across Canada.
 
We have so many fond memories of Bob. Especially close to our hearts is the survey exhibition he curated Embassy Cultural House - 1983 - 1990  at Museum London in 2012.



EDITORIAL TEAM

ONLINE FOUNDER
Tariq Hassan Gordon

COFOUNDERS & CURATORIAL ADVISORS 
 
Jamelie Hassan 
& Ron Benner

ADVISORY CIRCLE
Samer Abdelnour, Marnie Fleming, Wyn Geleynse, Fern Helfand, S F Ho, Lorraine Klaasen, Judith Rodger, Ruth Skinner, Mary Lou and Dan Smoke,  and Lucas Stenning 

COORDINATING EDITORS
Tariq Hassan Gordon & 
Olivia Mossuto

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Blessy Augustine, Anahí González, Ira Kazi, ​Shelley Kopp, Ashar Mobeen & Michelle Wilson. 

VIRTUAL TOUR
Andreas Buchwaldt

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OUR STORY
Artists Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner and jazz musician Eric Stach founded the Embassy Cultural House (1983-1990) located in the restaurant portion of the Embassy Hotel at 732 Dundas Street in East London. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Embassy Cultural House was re-envisioned as a virtual artist-run space and website. 

The Embassy Cultural House gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the London Arts Council through the City of London's Community Arts Investment Program.
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The Embassy Cultural House is thankful for the Mentorship program established by the Visual Arts department and the continued support of the students and faculty of Arts & Humanities at Western University. 
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Thank you to our partners

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E M B A S S Y  C U L T U R A L  H O U S E . C A

The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) is located in London, Ontario, Canada on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Attawandaron and Huron-Wendat peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum and other treaties. The ECH strives to create meaningful relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and our contributors. The ECH honours the stewardship of the many Indigenous peoples who have resided on these lands since time immemorial. 

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        • Index of Performers
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