Below the Radar

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Michael Turner, a Vancouver-based writer and musician. Am and Michael discuss the release of his latest book Playlist: A Profligacy of Your Least-Expected Poems. They also talk about the Hard Rock Miners, as well as programming work at the Malcolm Lowry Room, the Railway Club, and the Candahar Bar during the 2010 olympics. Full epi...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Lisa Jackson, an award-winning filmmaker, whose work spans hybrid documentary, installation, VR, and more. Am and Lisa discuss her latest work, Wilfred Buck, a portrait of Cree Elder Wilfred Buck, an Indigenous star lore expert. They also talk about her time as an undergraduate student at SFU and her journey as a filmmaker. Full ep...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Beatrice Marovich, Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Hanover College and author of Sister Death: Political Theologies for Living and Dying. Together, they chat about the process of writing the book, and the theoretical and philosophical concepts of death as a relationship of enmity and sisterhood. Enjoy the episode! Ful...

In this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Véronique Sioufi, the Researcher for Racial & Socio-economic Equity at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC Office, and a doctoral candidate in geography at Simon Fraser University. Am and Véronique discuss what brought her to her doctoral work and her interest in issues of labour inequality, as well as how her position a...

In this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Damla Tamer, a visual artist and sessional lecturer at UBC whose work explores the affective conditions of labour under late capitalism, and the evolution of forms of civil protest within the contemporary political history of Turkey. Damla is also a founding member of the Art Mamas artist collective, which aims to create support ne...

In this episode of Below the Radar, host Am Johal sits down with Mena El Shazly, a visual artist specializing in moving image creation, curation, and programming. Her practice speculates on notions of presence and transcendence in the digital world, exploring how processes of decay provide alternative forms of transformation and regeneration. They discuss her approach to time-based media, how the...

This week on Below the Radar, we’re joined by Tina Sikka, Reader in Technoscience and Intersectional Justice in the School of Arts and Culture at Newcastle University. Tina discusses her research and writing on topics such as consent, justice, and feminist science studies, as well as her work in EDI at the university. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/bel...

Filmmaker Brett Story and labour organizer Chris Smalls join us this week on Below the Radar. Brett is the co-director of UNION, a documentary film that follows the efforts of the Amazon Labor Union and their campaign to unionize the first Amazon warehouse in American history. The movement was spearheaded by Chris, a former Amazon warehouse supervisor who was fired in 2020 after organizing a prote...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Hank Bull, an artist and curator whose administration and advocacy work has greatly contributed to artist-run culture in Canada. Hank discusses his work with the Western Front and Centre A, and he also brought along some props to give us a taste of what his past radio art sounded like! Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vanci...

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer, and artist, joins us on this week’s episode of Below the Radar. Am Johal and Leanne chat about her creative process, the significance of Nishnaabeg thought and practice in her work, and some upcoming projects including her newest book Theory of Water, set to be published in Spring of 2025. Full episode details: https:/...

On this episode of Below the Radar, we’re joined by Miwa Matreyek, an animator, designer, performer and Assistant Professor in Theatre Production and Design at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. Am and Miwa discuss how she got into making interdisciplinary artwork and some of her recent projects that combine animation and live performance. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-offi...

This week on Below the Radar, we’re joined by Ghinwa Yassine, a Lebanese anti-disciplinary artist whose work confronts the ideological and patriarchal systems that she grew up in, while exploring collective feelings and what it means to be a marked body. Ghinwa discusses her recent multi-media installations and ongoing artistic research into gestural agency and freedom. Full episode details: https...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Wendy Brown, distinguished American political theorist and Professor Emerita of Political Science at the University of California Berkeley. Together they discuss Wendy’s writing on the emergence of and critical responses to identity politics, physical border controls as performative expressions of sovereignty, the replacement of de...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Ranjit Hoskote, poet, translator, art critic, and curator. Together they discuss Bombay’s political and cultural milieu in the 1980s and 90s, from which Ranjit began to experiment with art making, artistic and curatorial responses to an emergent neo-colonial Indian state. They also discuss the crisis of cultural politics, Ranjit’s...

This week on Below the Radar we’re joined by Michael Hardt, political theorist and Professor at Duke University. Am and Michael discuss the political concept of love, Michael’s research on revolutionary movements in the 1970s, as well as his past writing with the late Tony Negri, and how they continue to think together. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/b...

As the seasons change, Below the Radar is back to our regularly scheduled programming featuring a dynamic range of local and international voices. We’re thrilled to bring a host of critically acclaimed writers, theorists, and artists across disciplines to share conversations on the politics of love, the crisis of neoliberalism, and artmaking through political shifts. We also have graduates and fac...

This episode of Below the Radar is a special live recording from SFU School for the Contemporary Arts’ 2023 Re-Orientation Day, an all-day event designed to welcome SCA students, faculty, and staff back to campus for the fall semester. The 2023 theme was on “Place,” and the Vancity Office of Community Engagement convened a panel of speakers across the arts, academia, and community engagement to sp...

This week on Below the Radar, we’re joined by Zool Suleman, co-founder and editor of Rungh Magazine. Zool discusses Rungh’s founding as a national South Asian focused cultural initiative in the 90s, and how the magazine has since evolved into a platform for Indigenous, Black and racialized artist conversations. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Ellie Anderson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Pomona College, and co-host of the Overthink podcast. Ellie joins us to discuss how she got into philosophy and contemporary readings of Simone de Beauvoir’s work. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/245-el...

Our host Am Johal is joined by Ian Angus, Professor Emeritus from the Department of Global Humanities at Simon Fraser University. Together, they chat about Ian’s academic career, his engagement with the work of Husserl, and his most recent book, Groundwork of Phenomenological Marxism: Crisis, Body, World (Lexington Books, 2021). Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-eng...

Artist and curator Germaine Koh joins our host Am Johal on this week’s episode of Below the Radar. Together, they chat about some of Germaine’s work—including her ongoing project League—and the incorporation of sport into art. Germaine also shares stories about receiving a 2023 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, the importance of unproductivity, and her projects on Salt Spring Isla...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Srećko Horvat, a philosopher, author, and co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025. Am and Srećko discuss the journey behind launching the Island School of Social Autonomy on the Adriatic island of Vis. ISSA is a place for imagining, experimenting with and cultivating forms of knowledge-production and knowledge-sharing f...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Seth Klein, Team Lead and Director of Strategy of the Climate Emergency Unit, a 5-year project of the David Suzuki Institute that Seth launched in early 2021. Am and Seth discuss how he and his team are working to mobilise Canada for the climate emergency, including their latest project evaluating how the CBC reports on climate. Fu...

Artist and comedian Kira Nova joins us this week on Below the Radar. Alongside our host Am Johal, they chat about growing up in the circus, clowning, experimental pedagogy, and Kira’s psychedelic clown workshops. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/240-kira-nova.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-com...

This week on Below the Radar, we’re joined by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim, co-creators of the participatory videogame performance asses.masses. The show recently wrapped up a run at Vancouver’s PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Patrick and Milton discuss the show’s development, videogames as performance, and what they’ve discovered as they’ve toured the piece. Find out more and get...