Tours: UBC Outdoor Art Collection

Slow down and take a walking tour of  outdoor art on the UBC campus. Guided tours feature selected works from UBC’s Outdoor Art Collection and vary in length from 1 to 1.5 hours. For information or to book one of the tours below, contact Belkin Public Programs at belkin.tours@ubc.ca.

Guided tours are conversational, participation-driven and can be adapted for a wide range of ages, themes or interests. If there are other works or themes you are interested in discussing, please contact us.

Decolonization Tour

75 minutes, 1.5-2 kilometres

The Decolonization Tour highlights site-specific artworks by Indigenous artists and raises questions around issues of place, space and identity. Considering how these works address urgent social and political concerns, we’ll discuss ideas of settler colonialism, decolonization, reconciliation and the history of UBC’s Vancouver campus, which is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.

Includes works by:

• Diamond Point (Musqueam), wəɬ m̓i ct q̓pəθət tə ɬniməɬ (2020)
• Ellen Neel (Kwakwaka’wakw), Victory Through Honour (1948/2004)
• Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyanne, Arapaho), Native Hosts (1991/2007)
• 7idansuu (Edenshaw) James Hart (Haida), Reconciliation Pole: Honouring a Time Before, During and After Canada’s Indian Residential Schools (2015-17)

Before joining us on the Decolonization Tour, we encourage you to read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

Ecologies and Economies Tour

1 hour,  0.5 kilometres

The Ecologies and Economies Tour highlights artworks that engage with themes related to both social ecologies and the natural world, and people’s relationship with their surroundings on campus. We’ll discuss ideas around nature, culture, climate change and social change.

Includes works by:

• Holly Schmidt, Fireweed Fields (2021-)
• Myfanwy Macleod, Wood For the People (2002)
• Rodney Graham, Millennial Time Machine (2003)*
• Esther Shalev-Gerz, The Shadow (2018)

* closed during rainy weather

For all tours, please wear comfortable shoes and bring an umbrella in case of rain.

You can also enjoy a self-guided tour at your own pace. Download a copy of our Outdoor Art Tour book (PDF), qeqən: Musqueam House Posts book, or pick up a copy at the gallery. Our suggested routes take about 20 minutes to walk, while a full tour of all the artworks in the collection takes about three hours.

Image (above): Weiyi Chang speaking about Rodney Graham’s Millennial Time Machine (2003) on August 16, 2016. Photo: Josephina Back.