The Vancouver Art Gallery is seen in this file photo.ANDY CLARK/Reuters
Mash-up: The Vancouver Art Gallery introduces a cool new show this week. MashUp: The Birth of Modern Culture takes on the formidable task of illustrating the emergence and evolution of "mash-up" culture from 1912 to the present day. From collage and montage to splicing, sampling, hacking and remixing, the survey of the history of mash-up involves 371 works from 156 artists. It's an exhibition so big in scope that the VAG needed to use all four floors of the gallery. The exhibition, which took three years to assemble, includes works from such artists as Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Quentin Tarantino and T.S. Eliot.
Feb. 20-June 12, Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby St.), $24, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca
Riverview: If you're wandering around downtown, take a few minutes to slip into the Pendulum Gallery to check out Riverview, a group exhibition that reveals the beautiful, dark, disturbed and resilient corners of the Lower Mainland's famous psychiatric hospital. While the show definitely pulls inspiration from the history of the hospital, it also looks to the future. Riverview Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam opened in 1913 and closed in July, 2012. The decommissioned facility wears signs of its uneasy history everywhere, but it's nevertheless alluring in its decaying state. The provincial government, which owns the land, plans to build new mental-health facilities on the site.
Now through March 5, Pendulum Gallery (885 W. Georgia), www.pendulumgallery.bc.ca
Art: Head to Make Gallery to check out Visual Space, an exhibition of works by its latest artist-in-residence, Pierce Jordan. With a background in industrial and graphic design, his show incorporates sound and light in an interactive, site-specific installation, introducing unconventional ways to experience light. From Make: "This show reflects how Jordan's practice splices together and grapples with, not only the convergence of a variety of mediums, but also the twin disciplines of art and design."
Feb. 18, 7 p.m., Make (257 E 7th Ave), www.makeisawesome.com/gallery
Drama: Catch the Vancouver Fringe Festival's presentation of One Man Dark Knight: A Batman Parody at the Waterfront Theatre this week. Charles Ross (who appeared in such hits as One-Man Star Wars and One-Man Lord of the Rings) applies his magic to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and delivers (without set, costume, supporting actors or a Batmobile) a "one-hour comedic joyride, from Batman's origins to his epic battles against Gotham's super-villains."
Feb. 18-21, Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright St.), $25, www.vancouverfringe.com
Film: The Cinematheque is showing Action and Anarchy: The Films of Seijun Suzuki this week. From Cinematheque: "In a career spanning nearly five decades, Seijun Suzuki, now 92, amassed a body of work ranging from B-movie potboilers to beguiling metaphysical mysteries." We're looking forward to the 1966 flick Tokyo Drifter – the story of a reformed yakuza on the run loaded with dramatic fight scenes and "goofy" musical numbers.
Feb. 20-28, various times, The Cinematheque (1131 Howe St.), www.thecinematheque.ca