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.
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
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Year of GlassThe 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. |
ANONYMOUS WITNESSGolden 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. Golden Kite collection is a set of digitally created images which illustrates events of the past year (Aug. 15, 2021 to Aug. 15, 2022) in Afghanistan, the damage caused and the resulting crisis. The collection reflects the social and cultural life of the people, and the economy and politics of Afghanistan from the perspective of an Afghan, here named “Anonymous Witness”. |
Entezar (Prospect)
On the line waiting for food, job, freedom, education, passport, visa etc... |
Stories of Survival:
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Pandemic Gardens: Resilience Through Nature
The Embassy Cultural House presents Pandemic Gardens: Resilience Through Nature, the first online exhibition of 2022. Pandemic Gardens is an international and interdisciplinary group exhibition organized by Ron Benner and Rachel MacGillivray, with the assistance of JoAnna Weil, Jamelie Hassan, and Olivia Mossuto. The exhibition explores artworks, coping mechanisms, community engagements, and the resilience of the human spirit during the pandemic, through the ways in which people have engaged with gardens and nature. On Saturday, June 18, 2022, a billboard was installed at the Fredericton Botanic Garden in Fredericton, NB. A garden was also planted beneath the billboard with the assistance of local children and volunteers. A publication for this exhibition was released in August 2022. Please enjoy this timely programming by clicking the poster or the link below. |
Visit the Hiding in Plain Sight Virtual Tour
ONGOING DIGITAL PROJECTS @ ECH
ONLINE TEXTS
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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
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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. |
