November 7, 2025 – February 15, 2026
Exhibition Opening Night: Nov 7, 2025
The opening night of 50: Half a Century of UNIT/PITT, and the launch of the UNIT is U, our 50th anniversary publication, took place on November 7, 7-11PM.
The evening featured live audio and visual archival interventions by Kaila Bhullar and Jefferson Alade, reimagining artist david-george extensive audio and video archive of the Pitt of the Past. Jefferson also finished the evening with open decks.
50 was open for viewing from November 8, 2025 – February 15, 2026. The exhibition provided an opportunity to witness a glut of historical records from our extensive archive, documenting Vancouver’s early artist-run culture from 1975 onwards. 50 was also accompanied by a special events series, including: Visioning Futures, a gathering on futurism and world building, hosted by Noor Ghazal, Archival Heirlooms, a polaroid lift workshop with Sam Olsen, an event hosted by XINEMA, and the first of our recurring monthly jazz night c.a.f.f (calling all friendly faces) curated by Ben Frost.
November 7 was also the launch of our 50th Anniversary publication UNIT is U, designed by the brilliant Shafira Vidyamaharani. Edited by Catherine de Montreuil, Kira Saragih, and Alison Bosley, the publication features contributions by Dana Claxton, Lauren Han, Reece Metcalf, Katayoon Yousefbigloo, Emma Sommers, Kay Higgins, Sara Ellis, and many more. UNIT is U presents an essential history (and future) of UNIT/PITT through musings and mishaps spanning five decades of the organization’s particular brand of messy, oft absurd, yet fiercely community-minded artist-run culture. Find out more here!
Photos by Solange Adum Abdala
Documentation of live VJ and DJ sets at UNIT/PITT’s 50th anniversary opening night.
Mix by Jefferson Alade from UNIT/PITT’s 50th anniversary opening night, featuring audio from B.B.U.N.O. programming at UNIT/PITT in the 90s, courtesy of david-george morgan’s archives.
EVENTS
Visioning Futures – Jan 31
January 31, 2026, 5-9PM
2954 West 4th Ave
UNIT/PITT presents Visioning Futures, a conversational gathering that invites artists and community members to be in dialogue with each other and reflect on the role of art institutions in moments of resistance against imperial power. Taking its name from UNIT/PITT’s 1988 exhibition Visioning Palestine, this event centres conversation as a way to engage with and animate the archive beyond a site of inert preservation and into an active site of living memory, collective inquiry, and institutional responsibility.
Shaped in dialogue with and co-facilitated by Noor Ghazal, the gathering draws from her insights, personal experiences and reflections as an artist, community organizer, and cultural producer, as well as learnings that emerged through the development of her essay “The Time Has Always Been Now: Arts, Futurism, and Collective Liberation,” featured in the 2025 anniversary publication UNIT is U: 50 Years of UNIT/PITT. Guided by generative prompts and questions, participants are invited into an open, mindful conversation that centres care, accountability, and shared questioning. Food will be provided, with catering by Tayybeh.
Archival Heirlooms – Feb 7
February 7, 2026, 5-9PM
2954 West 4th Ave
In this hands-on workshop presented in collaboration with Sam Olsen (Greasy Dart, Greasy Zine) we explored how archiving the artifacts of our important relationships—blood and chosen family—can inform future generations about how we show love, care, and reciprocity. Participants are invited to bring an item that carries personal significance, to be photographed using Polaroid film and collaged in real time using a Polaroid Emulsion Lift Technique.
With consent from attendees, archival content derived from the previous Visioning Futures workshop will be incorporated into the collage.
50th Anniversary Merch
Check out our special edition t-shirts, featuring archival UNIT/PITT logos, and totes, designed by Shafira Vidyamaharani. Grab them while they’re still in stock!
Artist Bios
Jefferson Alade (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist and DJ based on the traditional, unceded Coast Salish territories (Vancouver, BC). Working with sound, music, and collective experience, his practice explores how listening can open pathways to emotional resonance and soulful connection. Through Du sets, sound design, and spatial interventions, Jefferson treats music as both medium and method-translating sonic material into soundscapes that hold memory, movement, and encounter.
He holds a Master of Design from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where his thesis explored facilitating collective listening experiences, and a BA in Communication with a minor in Music Industry from the University of California, Los Angeles. Jefferson is the founder of JOMA Studios, where he leads The Ryze, a platform for mixes, radio, and events that weave community through sound.
His work often crosses between art spaces and nightlife, having held roles such as Guest Curator at UNIT/PITT for their Sound Art project, while also cultivating spaces for gathering on the dance floor. Across all forms, Jefferson approaches sound as a language of care and connection-an invitation to listen more deeply, together.
Kaila Bhullar (She/They) is a queer Indo-Chilean experimental filmmaker + multimedia artist based in the traditional territories of the Xwmalkwayam, Skwxwú7mesh, and Salílwata?/Selilwitulh. Informed by digitally-based art forms, Bhullar explores various dispositions concerning identity and perception, including contemplations around the existential and political implications of images and technology. They use moving images and sound as a means to express the abstractions within these intersections, rendering their inquiries to often manifest as collages of varying forms, video or audiovisual works, and multimedia installations.
Some of their recent exhibition and screening history includes New Forms Festival, Centre A, Gallery Gachet, What Lab, XINEMA, The Polygon Gallery, Massy Arts Gallery, UNIT/PITT, and The Small File Media Festival.
david-george‘s work defies easy definitions. Having experimented with a wide range of styles and subject matter, using diverse materials and techniques, his artistic multiplicity and his resistance to any form of categorization can be seen as the consistent theme in his visual expressions. Preferring to explore the visual effects of mechanical technology by hand, david-george’s work refers directly to the enigma of metamorphosis and his imagery whispers to the subconscious coaxing it to the surface. The richness of his symbolism and the elusive nature he evokes in collective memories reveal the depth of his ambitions – which combine to make new resonances.
Noor Ghazal is a Lebanese interdisciplinary artist, cultural producer and community organizer based in so-called Vancouver, BC.
Noor’s research and art practice is rooted in Arabfuturism and exploring ways of future building through the retrieving and revival of stories and histories as methods of deciphering and speculating about pasts, presents, and futures. She works predominantly with cyanotype, weaving and video art. When Noor is not making art, she is advocating for local artists and organizing a diverse array of events that showcase MENA/SWANA arts and culture with the hopes of creating more visibility and building community.
Sam Olsen is a multidisciplinary artist experimenting primarily in fine art fashion portraiture under the alias Greasy Dart. With high impact colours driving his intuitive aesthetic, Greasy builds each artistic endeavour on a foundation of collaboration and body neutrality, allowing him to authentically uplift the queer, sexwork, and Indigenous communities. Greasy can be found playing in his studio on Davie Street, or covering a variety of queer-centric events across the lower mainland, Victoria, and beyond.
In the 2023 with the support of the BC Arts Council, Greasy launched the first full scale issue of Greasy Zine, Vancouver’s premiere Queer and Indigenous Fashion Arts + Culture magazine. Released Annually, Greasy Zine aims to feature bold and unapologetic artists who are moving cultures needle forward through mixed media collaborative works. In doing so, Greasy aims to create opportunities for under represented artists, and archive the works of his peers. Casting for Issue 03 are open now – contact greasyzine@gmail.com for information on how you can be involved!