Gabi Dao
Gabi Dao (b. 1991) is an artist and organizer who spent the majority of her formative years based in the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations—also known as Vancouver, Canada. Her practice insists on counter-memory, intimacy, multiple truths, messiness, entanglement, sensorial affirmations, and blurred temporalities, which often become sculpture, installation, moving image, and sound. Beginning with “patchwork” conceptions of time and materiality, she’s interested in tracing histories of the everyday through themes of globalization, consumption, belief, and belonging. She’s recently moved to Rotterdam, The Netherlands where she’s currently an MFA candidate at the Piet Zwart Institute.
She has recently exhibited at the Centre Clark, Montreal (2022); the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2021); Kamias Triennale, Quezon City, Philippines (2020); the Nanaimo Art Gallery (2017) and Vancouver institutions such as the Libby Leshgold Gallery at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (2022); the Burnaby Art Gallery and Vancouver Art Gallery (both 2021); grunt gallery and Simon Fraser University’s Audain Gallery (both 2019); the Western Front, Artspeak (both 2017); 221a and Spare Room (both 2015).
News
Exhibitions
Sorry (2020)
soothsay (2020)
Writing & Press
Please contact the gallery for links to films & videos by the artist
i and you, you and i, 2019 (detail) tempered glass, beaded curtain, aluminum,
UV reducing vinyl, transducer, audio, 193cm x 86cm x 121cm
i and you, you and i, 2019 (detail)
a sentimental dissidence, installation view, grunt gallery (Vancouver)
multi-media sound, video and sculpture installation, bench, carpet, coloured lighting, dimensions variable
a sentimental dissidence, installation view, grunt gallery (Vancouver)
multi-media sound, video and sculpture installation, bench, carpet, coloured lighting, dimensions variable
i and you, you and i, 2019, tempered glass, beaded curtain, aluminum,
UV reducing vinyl, transducer, audio, 193cm x 86cm x 121cm
a sentimental dissidence, installation view, grunt gallery (Vancouver)
multi-media sound, video and sculpture installation, bench, carpet, coloured lighting, dimensions variable
ode to you, 2019 (detail) empty cans of coconut water, dried bladder cherry flowers,
photograph, LED lights behind the video screen, dimensions variable
Coco Means Ghost, 2019 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 25m24s
Coco Means Ghost, 2019 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 25m24s
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1 and Ch.2, 2019, installation view, Audain Gallery (Vancouver),
video and sculpture installation, beaded curtains, carpet, cushioned seating, dimensions variable
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1 and Ch.2, 2019, installation view, Audain Gallery (Vancouver)
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1 and Ch.2, 2019, installation view, Audain Gallery (Vancouver)
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1 and Ch.2, 2019 (detail) beaded curtains, 356cm x 906 cm x 1cm
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1, 2019 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 12m50s
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1, 2019 (still)
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1, 2019 (still)
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.2, 2019 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 13m08s
How difficult it is to keep our records clean (innocent record, technical dirt), 2018 (detail) animatronic
hand, acrylic nails and accessories, bamboo, lens cleaning cloths, dimensions variable
How difficult it is to keep our records clean (innocent record, technical dirt), 2018 (detail)
The Protagonists, 2018 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 08m09s
The Protagonists, 2018 (still)
Many, Looks, Work, 2017 (detail) acrylic nails and accessories, gelatin, makeup, dirt, other bits of detritus, copper wire, micas, clays, jumper cables, jewellery chain, chain from broken lighting fixture, false eyelashes, nail polish, sowing pins, dried white prune, dried flowers, knotty pine, dimensions variable
Many, Looks, Work, 2017 (detail)
Polished Like a Shell, Curled Up in a Spiral and Voices Tuned, 2017, installation view, Artspeak (Vancouver)
CNC milled polystyrene foam, epoxy, minerals, clays, wood filler, matching radio receivers, pirate radio transmission, dimensions variable
Curled Up in a Spiral and Voices Tuned, 2017
Figure of the Ear at the Centre of Machine, 2015, assorted microphones, mixer, powered speakers, field recorder, MDF, framing lumber, assorted textiles, carpet, some clothing, jumper cable, a collection of bottles and kitchenware, clothing hanger, LED lights, sandpaper, cardboard tube, paper, polystyrene, fake nails, metal rod, non-perishable groceries, bits of plastic, drill, rice, dried beans, assorted sheets of plastic and metal, paper, make up, an orange, glove, rubber ball, a small collection of ceramic vessels, glass vase, fan, bag of starch, guitar strings, dimensions variable
Figure of the Ear at the Centre of Machine, 2015 (detail)