Below the Radar

This week, we’re sharing an episode from our friends at FCAT After School. FCAT After School is a podcast project led by student hosts from across SFU’s Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology speaking with alumni about their career journey since graduation. You’ll hear stories of and advice for traditional and unconventional career paths across communication, interactive arts and technology,...

On this episode of Below the Radar, we’re joined by Ania Malinowska, hypnotherapist, cultural theorist and Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. We discuss Ania’s scholarly practice, love, and how Ania found herself being trained in hypnosis. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes...

Curator, writer, and educator Moroti George joins our host Am Johal on this episode of Below the Radar. Moroti is the curator at The Black Arts Centre in Surrey, BC and the Director/Curator of Gallery Gachet in downtown Vancouver. Together, they chat about how Moroti became interested in the arts, their experience working in two different art spaces, and their approach to curating in Greater Vanco...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Glen Clark, who was formerly premier of British Columbia, as well as president and chief operating officer of the Jim Pattison Group in Vancouver. Glen discusses his political career, from his time in labour movements to the legislative assembly, and further on to how he exited politics and got into working with corporate titan Jim...

This week on Below the Radar, we are joined by T.J. Demos, Professor in the Department of the History of Art and Visual Culture at University of California, Santa Cruz, and Director of its Center for Creative Ecologies. Together, they chat about TJ’s book, Radical Futurisms: Ecologies of Collapse, Chronopolitics, and Justice-to-Come. They also discuss the question of climate justice in visual cult...

This week on Below the Radar we’re joined by Sanem Güvenç, a scholar, psychoanalyst, and university professor, as well as co-president of the Vancouver-based psychoanalytic society Lacan Salon. Together they discuss friendship, authoritarianism, teaching, and how Sanem reads the works of various philosophers, with a focus on how she got into Lacan. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-...

This week on Below the Radar, we are joined by Travis Holloway: a poet, translator, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Farmingdale, and author of the book How to Live at the End of the World: Theory, Art, and Politics for the Anthropocene (Stanford University Press, 2022). Am and Travis discuss noticing patterns in contemporary art making during the climate crisis. Travis also shares about...

On this episode of Below the Radar, we’re joined by John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. Fire Weather is a national best selling book about the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, North America's oil industry, and our new century of fire, which has only just begun. Our host Am Johal and John discuss how John approached the subject, the process of collecting and weaving stories fr...

On this episode of See How We Run! we’re joined by Hives for Humanity’s co-directors Sarah Common and Cait Hurley to talk about the history of the apicultural organization, its evolution from a supportive prevocational training program to a Community Supported Apiculture model, and the ways they are centering their relationship to the plants and soil in the Hastings Folk Garden in their work. Full...

On this episode of See How We Run!, we’re joined by two cultural workers: Asia Jong, an emerging curator, arts facilitator and who was one of the co-organizers of Ground Floor Art Centre, a collectively-run DIY gallery, studio and project space with a focus on supporting early emerging artists; and Vitória “veto” Monteiro, an emerging visual artist, arts facilitator, ​​and current Board President...

On this episode of See How We Run! we’re joined by Gallery Gachet’s executive Director Demi London and artistic director Moroti George to talk about the evolution of Gachet’s approach to supporting artistic creation and exhibition, in ways that are accessible to and supportive of people facing systemic barriers and social marginalization. We speak about the ways the gallery’s programming and opera...

On this episode of See How We Run! we’re joined by Neworld Theatre’s managing director Alen Dominguez and consultant Caitlin Jones to talk about Progress Lab 1422’s Backstage Spaces report. Progress Lab is a building in East Van that is a dedicated performance creation space and home to a collective of renowned theatre and dance companies, who collaboratively run the space with their nonprofit ten...

Welcome to See How We Run! An original Below the Radar mini-series featuring conversations with arts and cultural workers in Vancouver. In this first episode, co-hosts Julia Aoki, Kathy Feng, and Samantha Walters introduce the series and what’s to come. In each episode, they’ll speak to artists, consultants, administrators, and advocates about how art and culture is made and sustained in Vancouver...

This week on Below the Radar, we’re joined by Vancouver legend Norman Armour, a curator, consultant, producer, director, actor and non-profit arts specialist with over 35 years of experience. Norman discusses his experience co-founding the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, his storied career in the Canadian arts scene, as well as his health. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vanc...

Alex Hemingway, Senior Economist and Public Finance Policy Analyst at the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), joins Am Johal on this episode of Below the Radar. They discuss the Canadian housing crisis, the misclassification of independent contractors in the gig economy, and the CCPA’s report promoting a wealth tax. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-offi...

This week on Below the Radar, we're joined by Samir Gandesha, Professor in the Department of the Humanities and the Director of the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University. In this conversation, Samir and Am discuss the importance of challenging ideas in academia, how family trauma has impacted his perspective, and the long history of the Institute for the Humanities–leading up to...

Bruce Mutsvairo, Professor of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University, and a 2023 SFU CERi researcher-in-residence, sits down with Am Johal to discuss his journey from journalism into academia and the state of journalism in Africa. He and Am also discuss the complexities of citizen journalism in relation to influencers, especially in the context of transparency, misinformation, and inequal...

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Ali Kazimi, director and winner of the 2019 Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts. Ali shares with Am how he got into filmmaking, his experiences of discrimination when arriving in Canada, and his path into the production of his various films, such as Continuous Journey, Narmada, Random Acts of Legacy, and his latest f...

On this episode of Below the Radar, Angela Aujla, visual artist and Professor of Sociology at Georgian College, sits down with Am Johal. Angela shares her career transition into the visual arts, while continuing to draw upon her academic background in Sociology and Anthropology to influence her mixed-media works. Angela also discusses the influences and inspiration of her art exhibition, My Grandm...

This week on Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Ryan Tacata, Assistant Professor of Performance at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. Together, Am and Ryan discuss his performance residency at the Libby Leshgold Gallery, and methods of designing pedagogy for contemporary performance education. Ryan also shares how he started in live performance and some of the various artists who...

On this episode of Below the Radar, Charlotte Gill, author of the books Ladykiller and Eating Dirt, sits down with Am Johal to explore her latest book, Almost Brown, which shares her experience growing up as a mixed-race child in a multi-cultural/religious household. Charlotte describes the family dynamics that led her Punjabi father to marry her English mother and become estranged from his father...

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University, joins Am Johal to discuss the pertinent topic of fascism and how political figures use and promote the image of “strongmen'' in their pursuit of power. Am and Ruth explore the modern political environment through Ruth’s book, Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present, linking the style of Mussolini to politicians like...

Critical theorist Alberto Toscano sits down with Am Johal to discuss the emergence of critical theory alongside fascism's rise in the 1920s and 30s. He speaks of Georges Sorel as a politically radical figure from the time period, highlights the role of political violence in the emergence of fascism, and delves into contemporary American currents of fascism – particularly focusing on the racialized...

Below the Radar is returning from our summer break, bringing you 15 new conversations from an eclectic range of guests. We have invited local and international academics and artists to speak on topics ranging from continuing and emergent forms of fascism, and expressions of diasporic narratives and experiences in literary, visual, and moving image arts, to citizen journalism in Africa and shifting...

A family journey that spans three generations. This week on Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Bill Sundhu, a human rights & criminal justice lawyer. Bill shares the remarkable story about his parents' arrival in Canada following the partition of India, and how an interview with his mother led to them reconnecting with her sister in Pakistan. Am and Bill also discuss growing up in Wil...