Partner Organizations
Image credit: Public Lecture: "Material + Visuality, with Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Karice Mitchell and Dr.Jasbir K. Puar" in partnership with Artspeak at the Polygon Gallery. November 15, 2025. Photo: Solange Adum Abdala
Critical Image Forum was founded as a collaboration between the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at The University of British Columbia. Additional ongoing partnerships with The Polygon Gallery (North Vancouver), Indigenous Arts Intensive at The University of British Columbia Okanagan, and Capture Festival (Vancouver) have enabled CIF to support a wider range of research and projects throughout the region.
Collaborating Units at UBC
CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN STUDIES
The Centre for European Studies (CES) aims to advance the study and understanding of European politics, economy, and societies. CES supports a broad, transnational view of Europe, embodied through the collective work of faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, and visiting scholars across the social sciences and humanities.
Launched in early 2022, CES emerged from the former Institute for European Studies, which was founded in 1998 at UBC.
Through our speaker series, research colloquia, and other events, we provide a collaborative and engaging space for researching Europe’s history, current affairs, and diverse cultures and societies. We strive to engage with Europe from the perspective of our place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), supporting approaches that amplify Indigenous and minoritized perspectives and that decolonize our historical and ongoing relationships with Europe.
DEPARTMENT OF ART HISTORY, VISUAL ART AND THEORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
The Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory (AHVA) at the University of British Columbia is an active research and teaching centre. We offer undergraduate and graduate programs that lead to BA, BFA, MA, MFA, and PhD degrees, and a post-baccalaureate diploma.
At AHVA, our primary goal is to foster critical and reflexive thinking within an inclusive and supportive environment. We strive to be innovative in our pedagogy and to be international in our scholarly perspective.
AHVA comprises three streams of research-based learning and practice: art history (ARTH), critical and curatorial studies (CCST), and visual art (VISA).
Located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people, we are a community of students, faculty members, practitioners, research and support staff, all working together to advance the study and practice of art history, visual art and theory.
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Ranking as one of the top history departments in the world, the Department of History at UBC is a vibrant centre for scholarship. Our professors are dedicated teachers and award-winning researchers who cover a wide range of themes and regions of the world.
The History Department offers both major and minor degree programs for undergraduate students. Additionally, motivated undergraduates can apply for our intensive two-year honours program. The Department offers Masters and PhD programs covering a wide range of fields.
Located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people, we are a community of faculty members, practitioners, students, research and support staff, working together to advance the study and understanding of history.
INDIGENOUS ARTS INTENSIVE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA OKANAGAN
The Indigenous Art Intensive is a unique immersive program that brings international and national Indigenous scholars, curators, artists and writers together on campus, in Syilx territories in the Okanagan, to interact with students in an artist residency context. The program offers an educational series of courses, lectures, art shows, and opportunities to create art. It features a series of world-renowned speakers, a variety of related undergraduate and graduate credit courses, and a group of resident artists who will be working to create a new body of work.
morris and helen belkin gallery
Located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people, the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery promotes understanding and discussion of contemporary art and ideas through its curated exhibitions, programs, publications, special projects and loans from its collection and archive. Since its inception in 1948 as the UBC Fine Arts Gallery, the Belkin has offered artists and communities space to discuss, engage and respond critically to the present. We believe that art is a form of research that produces knowledge, bringing local, national and international perspectives to the role that art can play in fostering civil societies. Admission is always free and everyone is welcome.
PUBLIC HUMANITIES HUB
The Public Humanities Hub (PHH) fosters innovative, collaborative public humanities research and advances public-facing, accountable scholarship in the Humanities across Arts, Law, and Education at UBC. The PHH supports new directions in humanities scholarship for scholars and projects, through grants, faculty fellowships, SSHRC Connection grant support, graduate mentoring, and public programming, including academic events and toolkits to build humanities community and research capacity. The PHH prioritizes public engagement, making high-brow cultural artifacts more accessible while fostering accountable academic collaboration. It seeks to reimagine knowledge creation, redistributing access to diverse publics, especially digital scholarship and historically marginalized communities.
The PHH grants and awards program and related activities are made possible through support by the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Law, and major funding from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation. It is governed by a Director and Advisory Board, with a reporting line to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts.
UBC-V’s Public Humanities Hub began as a three-year pilot project in 2019 to foster and support collaborative research and to highlight and develop public-facing research in the Humanities in Arts, Law, and Education, at UBC-V.
UBC-V’s Public Humanities Hub is the result of wide consultation with UBC Humanities researchers beginning over a decade ago. It has been developed to provide support fitting the nature of collaborations within the Humanities. This pilot was designed by former Associate Dean of Research (Arts) Matthew Evenden and an advisory group, in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Education, and the Peter A. Allard School of Law, and with the support of the offices of the President, the Provost and VP-Academic, and the VP-Research and Innovation. The Public Humanities Hub supports a number of Research Excellence strategies identified in UBC’s Strategic Plan, including Strategy 6: Collaborative Clusters; Strategy 7: Research Support; Strategy 9: Knowledge Exchange; and Strategy 10: Research Culture.
The Public Humanities Hub is supported by annual funding from VP-Research and Innovation, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Education, and the Peter A. Allard School of Law, and by grants from SSHRC, UBC Work Learn, Mitacs, the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP), and the Information and Communications Technology Council of Canada (ICTC).
UBC LIBRARY | MUSIC, ART & ARCHITECTURE LIBRARY
The Music, Art &Architecture Library at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre supports the study, research and teaching needs of the faculty, students and staff in the School of Music, the Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory, the School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture, the School of Community & Regional Planning. In addition to these subject areas the collection contains mathematics, statistics, computer science, and library and information studies and older humanities & social sciences materials. It is also the home of the ASRS, UBC Library’s Automated Storage and Retrieval System.
VISUAL RESOURCES CENTRE
The Visual Resources Centre (VRC) provides valuable resources and research support to Art History (ARTH), Visual Art (VISA), and Critical & Curatorial Studies (CCST). The VRC is responsible for maintaining the AHVA department’s collections and archives in analogue and digital formats containing over 450,000 holdings.
As a vital teaching and research facility, we strive for pedagogic innovation in the fields of Art History, Visual Arts, Critical and Curatorial Studies, and Collections Management. We offer research support to students, faculty, and staff:
Partners
CAPTURE PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL
Launched in 2013, Capture Photography Festival is Western Canada’s largest lens-based art festival. Annually in April, lens-based art is exhibited at dozens of galleries and other venues throughout Metro Vancouver as part of the Exhibition Program, alongside an extensive Public Art Program, an Events Program that spans tours, films, artist talks, and community events.
Capture’s vision is to connect Vancouver to the world through lens-based art. The Festival acts as a platform to expand visual literacy; strives to give voice to traditionally underrepresented communities and to present compelling, urgent lens-based art. We aim to connect communities to incite meaningful dialogue between artists, curators, audiences, organizations and institutions. Capture is committed to presenting perspectives from diverse backgrounds and members of underrepresented groups.
Museum of Vancouver
The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) connects Vancouverites to each other and connects the city to the world. An enthusiastic civic advocate, MOV is dedicated to encouraging a deeper understanding of Vancouver through stories, objects and shared experiences. Its mission is to be a gathering space that fosters connection, learning and new experiences of Vancouver’s diverse communities and histories.
the polygon gallery
Grounded in photography, The Polygon Gallery creates space to challenge how we see the world. Operating on the unceded territories of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and xwməθkwəýəm (Musqueam) Nations as Presentation House Gallery for forty years, the organization has produced over 300 exhibitions and numerous publications, earning a reputation as an adventurous public art institution. The Polygon’s expansive programming has featured acclaimed Vancouver photographers, world‐renowned as well as emerging artists, and innovative exhibitions of historic and vernacular photography.
The Polygon is committed to the development of lens-based practices and to creating pathways for new voices within the medium, particularly as it works to articulate new narratives from artists traditionally outside the Eurocentric perspective of many art galleries. Importantly, The Polygon prioritizes the presentation of work by artists who reflect the diversity of its community. Of primary importance, the Gallery continues to expand its engagement with Indigenous communities, particularly the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
The Polygon is committed to inclusivity, believing that art should be accessible to all people. To this end, The Polygon has removed financial barriers to participation: admission to The Polygon is offered on a by-donation basis (all day, every day), with exhibition tours, talks, and outreach programs all included. Additionally, the Gallery is working to expand its audience by providing exhibition tours in English, Farsi, French, Mandarin, and Spanish.
The Polygon is focused on providing a fun and welcoming environment for children and families, so that people from an early age come to know The Polygon as their place for interacting with, and learning about, art. This includes programs such as Gallery School, Chester Fields, Kids First Saturdays, and ongoing self-guided activities that help adults to enjoy visits with their children, all of which are free or included with admission-by-donation.
Collaborating Institutions
ARTSPEAK
Artspeak is an exhibition and programming space encouraging dialogue between contemporary visual art and writing. Artspeak is committed to intersectional participation and exchange.
Cinevolution
Cinevolution is a grassroots, migrant-driven film and media arts organization based in Richmond, BC, the occupied, traditional and ancestral territories of the hǝn̓q̓ ǝmin̓ ǝm̓ speaking peoples, including the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) and other Coast Salish Nations.
Our vision is a diverse society where people connect across linguistic, geopolitical and cultural boundaries to explore alternative perspectives and realities. Our mission is to promote innovation and critical discourse through film and media art, bring new ways of thinking and expression into cross-cultural communication, and foster collaboration and exchange amongst filmmakers and media artists in Canada and around the world.
Cinevolution was founded in 2007 by three immigrant women — Ying Wang, Rachel Fan, and Lynn Chen — in response to the limited and often disconnected representation of Asia on the big screen. The first and only media arts organization in Richmond, Canada, Cinevolution has been dedicated to making experimental film and media art accessible to all from the start, with a particular focus on connecting immigrants and marginalized communities to mainstream society through participatory media art festivals and events that are international in scope. Over the past decade, Cinevolution has been a leading voice for newcomer communities while promoting independent art practice, interdisciplinary art forms and critical discourse on the complexities of cultural encounters and diasporic identities. Today, Cinevolution’s initial three-women team has grown to include a dynamic group of artists and filmmakers, activists and community organizers.
EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART AND DESIGN
Founded in 1925, Emily Carr University is a world leader in art, media and design. Merging studio practice, research and critical theory in an interdisciplinary and collaborative environment, ECU encourages experimentation at the intersections of art, design, media and technology. We’re ranked as the top university in Canada for art and design, and 29th in the world.
We have more than 1,800 students enrolled in graduate and undergraduate programs, with thousands more taking workshops, certificate programs and individual courses. Our faculty, staff and alumni are internationally recognized as award-winning creators and thought leaders whose work consistently advances the resilience and potential of both cultural sectors and the economy.
SCHOOL FOR THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS, SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, situated in one of downtown Vancouver’s most dynamic and diverse neighbourhoods, offers a unique curriculum in which studio classes in dance, film, music/sound, theatre performance and production, and visual art are integrated with the historical and theoretical study of the arts. This meeting of creative practice with academic enquiry is a core value of the school and is enhanced by our attention to critical contemporary issues as well as our commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration both within the classroom and beyond. Today’s world is facing unprecedented economic, social, and environmental pressures that demand flexible and creative responses. In this rapidly changing landscape, we encourage students to see art as a powerful instrument for critical expression. Working within the framework of Canada’s top-ranked comprehensive university, our internationally renowned faculty members focus on equipping students with the skills, discipline, understanding and creativity to excel in the arts in Canada and around the world.
surrey art gallery
Internationally recognized for its award-winning programs, Surrey Art Gallery is the second largest public art museum in the Metro Vancouver region.
Exhibitions change quarterly and admission is always free. We show all forms of contemporary art by local, national, and international artists, including digital and audio art. Learn more about art at one of our engaging artist talks or tours, participate in a symposium, or make art by yourself or with family and friends at the Gallery. We offer demonstrations, workshops, and school programs with artists, educators, and other specialists.
Surrey Art Gallery's mission is to engage the public in an ongoing dialogue about issues and ideas that affect our numerous communities, as expressed through contemporary art, and to provide opportunities for the public to interact with artists and the artistic process. We accomplish these aims through exhibitions, programs, and publications of contemporary art.
Surrey Art Gallery also acquires, manages, researches, preserves, and exhibits work from its contemporary art collection, held in trust for present and future citizens of the City of Surrey.