Nestled next to Vancouver art stalwart Access Gallery (in their new home at 222 E. Georgia St.) in Vancouver’s Chinatown is the newly opened Project Space. On opening night, as part of culture hopping event Swarm, the thoughtful selection of publications were already flying off the sliced and whitewashed palette shelves. Guests gathered to swig beer beneath a white paper airplane cluster installation, flip through art and lit magazines near the wide windows and read selections from books on slatted wooden benches in the middle of the room. The back of the room houses crisp white shelves, tables and chairs, a teal typewriter and a lot of possibility. Project Space aims to me more than just another bookstore with some art thrown in. As their mission statement defines them:

Project Space is a book shop, publisher, programming space, and studio.

As the possibilities inherent to digital space become increasingly infinite, the roles of physical and print spaces are being redefined. Project Space examines, challenges, and supports this redefinition process through a curated selection of publications, exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and readings.

Books! In a bookshop!

It’s easy to see how Project Space will be successful and awesome. Director Tracy Stefanucci is a dynamic and energetic fixture in Vancouver’s publishing, art and literary spheres. She’s the Executive Director of OCW Arts & Publishing Foundation, the non-profit that runs Project Space and which publishes the amazing lit-art hybrid OCW Magazine organizer of the Main Street Magazine Tour and coordinator of Canzine West. With intelligence, creativity, commitment and that old chestnut hard work Stefanucci has set out to make Project Space a special place for creators.

“Opening a curated book shop, programming space, and studio has been an ambition of mine for a long time—although, I never really saw how it could be feasible. When 221A presented OCW with the opportunity to apply for a storefront in their project at 222 E Georgia Street, my ‘one day’ idea became a lot more realistic,” says Stefanucci.

Along with OCW’s Art Director Jaz Halloran, Stefanucci created a winning proposal. The two then refined their original idea, “from mission statement and logistics, to the project’s visual identity,” and brought their concept into existence.

One wall displays the array of publications available for sale. The selection includes literary and art magazines, beautiful small press and boutique press titles and zines. My wallet fought me and won during Swarm, but this is the kind of bookshop one comes back to again and again, to see what’s fresh on the shelf.

“We’re excited to carry some of our favourite local publications—Poetry is Dead, Pyramid Power, Fillip, Publication Studio titles, as well as our very own OCW Magazine—alongside some really inspiring international work, like OWT Creative and Pogo Books‘ zines, Pie Paper, Fine Line, and books by Lay Flat and Gestalten.”

The current installation, books hanging along the window and the delightful aforementioned paper mobile dangling from the middle of the room, comes courtesy of the collective Evenings + Weekends, comprised of UBC Masters of Architecture students Raneen Nosh, Darcy Hanna and Emma Sims. According to their artist statement concerning their involvement:

A bookish installation courtesy of Evenings and Weekends.

Project Space shop acts as an exhibition space for publications, offering new ways to view the print medium at a time when it is increasingly threatened by digital publishing. Evenings +Weekends at Project Space further explores paper-based objects of nostalgia by reinvigorating overlooked but familiar artifacts with a new sense of value. In an era of disposability and multi-functional objects, Evenings + Weekends at Project Space seeks to revive curiosity in the singular object.

“Jaz and I had been looking for ideas on how to create more sculptural shelving that would present the books more as artifacts or objects of art in an exhibition than like books in a bookstore. He found what we now have on our walls at The Cheaper Show, as part of an installation by Evenings + Weekends.”

The two met up with the collective to see if they’d be interested in a collaboration with Project Space. Not only were they inspired by the concept enough to contribute their paper-based projects, but they got involved in pre-opening manual labour too.

“They joined our volunteer team, building the nesting tables, plinths, and shelving for the space; consulting on ideas for the overall design of the space; and creating two installations—one in the front window and one hung from the ceiling.”

Evenings and Weekends paper the ceiling.

The other interactive part is the programming that will fill the space with creative minds. Upcoming events include reading series Locution on September 29^th, and, along with OCW and Broken Pencil, a free zine workshop on October 1^st.

Stefanucci says, “We are looking forward to hosting a variety of programming that supports the people and disciplines involved in creating publications: artists, designers, writers, publishers and curators. We are in talks with UBC’s Creative Writing Student Association and the Dead Poet’s Society, and, we’re chatting with Cargoh, a local company that runs a curated marketplace online, about the possibility of running pop up shops featuring work by artists and designers on their site.”

Though they may solicit events they’re most certainly accepting email proposals, at info[@]projectspace.ca. “Anyone interested can just send me an email with some basic information about their idea, and from there we can figure out whether or not the event is a fit for our space,” she says.

If you go through that door you'll be inside Project Space and looking at wonderful books and such.

This small, yet versatile space is an exciting and bold addition to the Vancouver publishing and arts landscape. I for one can’t wait to get my reading/workshops/book buying on.

To see all of the available publications in the bookshop, check out the current Evenings & Weekends installations and find out how the space can work for your events, head over to Project Space at 222 E. Georgia St. from Tuesday to Saturday 12pm to 6pm. And again, to make a proposal email Project Space: info@projectspace.ca.

Access Gallery, Broken Pencil, Canzine West, Cargoh, Darcy Hanna, Emma Sims, Evenings and Weekends, Fillip, Fine Line, Gestalten, Jaz Halloran, Lay Flat, Locution, Main Street Magazine Tour, OCW Magazine, OWT Creative, Pie Paper, Poetry is Dead, Pogo Books, Project Space, Publication Studio, Pyramid Power, Raneen Nosh, The Cheaper Show, Tracy Stefanucci Literature, Visual Arts