Past Events

SUM AiR—SJ Kirsch

Sept 5 - 27, 2024 We're excited to welcome SJ Kirsch as a SUM-AiR artist-in-residence from September 5 - 27, 2024. SJ will use this residency to expand their fluency...

SUM AiR—Rafael Zen + Khalil Alomar

Aug 12 - 30, 2024 We’re pleased to welcome our SUM gallery artists-in-residence (SUM-AiR),  Rafael Zen and Khalil Alomar , to SUM gallery, Aug 12 – Aug 30, 2024. Throughout...

SUM AiR—ilvs strauss

Jul 24 - Aug 9, 2024 We're pleased to welcome our SUM gallery artist-in-residence (SUM-AiR),  ilvs strauss , to SUM gallery, July 26 - Aug 9, 2024. Over the coming...

ANNOUNCING SUM-AiR 2024

SUM gallery Artist-in-Residency Program SUM gallery is excited to announce the new SUM-AiR (SUM gallery Artist-in-Residence) program, beginning August 6, 2024! We’re inviting artists and collectives based in the Metro...

Go Home Yuppie Scum—Preston Buffalo

Apr 11 - Jun 6, 2024 Taking its title from graffiti that appeared on empty/sold Vancouver houses and lots in the 1980s as part of the local anti-gentrification movement, Go...

DRAG BINGO @ Carnegie Centre

Mar 4, 2024 | 5:30 - 8pm Hosted by Continental Breakfast & Jas Minh This Monday, March 4, we team up once again with the Carnegie Community Centre to present...

A Generosity of Abundance—Valérie d. Walker and Jack Page

Feb 22 - Apr 5, 2024 OPENING RECEPTION: FEB 22, 6 to 8 pm PERFORMANCE by JACK PAGE & THEO BLUE: MAR 16, 2 pm As our community navigates a...

KING SIZED—A Drag King Show

Feb 9, 2024 | 9:30pm SUM gallery is proud to be official sponsor for KING SIZED: A Drag King Show! Join us at the Bird House on February 9th, 10pm-2am,...

Artist Residency—Preston Buffalo

Jan 9 - Feb 2, 2024 Multimedia artist Preston Buffalo joins us at SUM gallery for a four-week artist residency (Jan 9 - Feb 2). During this time Buffalo will...

Queering the Air — Jazz Night with Bruno Hubert & James Meger

Queer Arts Festival + SUM gallery & Carnegie Community Centre present QUEERING THE AIR with Bruno Hubert , piano &  James Meger , bass Thu, Jan 18 | 7pm @ Carnegie...

Queering the Air — LIFE//LAND::seasons//cycles//connections

Queer Arts Festival + SUM gallery & Carnegie Community Centre present QUEERING THE AIR with Sarah Jo Kirsch , soprano &  Indra Egan , piano Thu, Nov 23 | 7pm @...

Stay On It: Music by Julius Eastman

Stay On It: Music by Julius Eastman SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023 THE ROUNDHOUSE | 181 ROUNDHOUSE MEWS (Pacific & Davie) |  Google map Doors at 7:00PM | Concert starts at 7:30PM featuring: Music on Main...

SUM gallery is one of less than a handful of permanent queer-mandated art galleries in the world. SUM produces, presents and exhibits with a curatorial vision favouring cutting-edge, thought-provoking multidisciplinary work that pushes boundaries and initiates dialogue. SUM brings diverse communities together to support artistic risk-taking, incite creative collaboration and experimentation and celebrate the rich heritage of queer artists and art.

The artist-run SUM gallery was founded in 2018 by Artistic Director SD Holman as a permanent space supporting multidisciplinary exhibitions, events and artist residencies. At the time of the founding, SUM was the only queer-mandated gallery in Canada—not the first, but earlier attempts have succumbed to gentrification, or exhaustion, or both. And we salute you.

SUM gallery came to BC Artscape’s space in the Sun Wah Centre as a partnership with Full Circle First Nations Performance, the Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival, and multimedia titan Paul Wong’s On Main Gallery. We populate the empty 4th floor, previously left in shell condition since the 1980’s when it was built.

The SUM gallery name honours our location with multi-layered meaning:

○ Originally envisioned as a Dim Sum (點心) restaurant, our space features the traditional round window, now a striking feature of our office

○ The name pays tribute to the Pearl River Delta immigrants who settled our neighbourhood 150 years ago: Sum (心) means heart in their Cantonese dialect

○ Words for queer people in Chinese include the Sum 心 character

○ SUM = summation (∑), the sum of its parts, the sum total, 2LGBTQIA+

○ Some (art)