Various Properties was the inaugural exhibition of the Critical and Curatorial Studies Masters program at the University of British Columbia. Graduating students Heather Bjorgan, Alice Edwards, Katie Spicer and Kiriko Watanabe utilized recent acquisitions to the collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery to explore themes of social landscape, the body and the politics of housing and development, issues that resonate today on local and global scales. Works of art by Claude Breeze, Genevieve Cadieux, Louise Lawler and Carolee Schneemann advance ideas surrounding gender, sexuality and relationships, while fantasy, play and the subliminal are investigated by Jess Shary Boyle and Marina Roy. Photo-based works by Roy Arden, Tom Burrows and Chris Gergley unify themes of dwelling, place and temporality, exploring the urban, suburban and natural landscape of Vancouver. Ownership and politics are themes in the work of Christos Dikeakos, Rodney Graham, Mark Lewis and Scott MacFarland. Roy Kiyooka and Rudolf Schwarzkogler, who address the body in a social space and staged landscape, are also included to highlight the nature of art and life. In addition, art by Kenneth Coutts-Smith and Carol Conde and Karl Beveridge present social criticisms of land use and labour.