Immersed • RETURN TO WATER 2025
IMMERSED • RETURN TO WATER 2025
Immersed • RETURN TO WATER 2025 marks the gallery’s fifth year of inviting visitors to programming and community activations that explore the enduring relationship we have with this watery region.
Artists working in alternative lens-based practices tell the story of the geological and ecological deep time of this watery world. Time capture imagery, interactive installations, animation, sound design, video, and 3D virtual reality immerse the viewer in sensorial encounters.
Time is huge, and it just keeps slipping into the future. An island rises from the ocean, and its inhabitants go about their life’s work — blasting, hauling, and shipping the rock on which they live. Framed as an immersive portrait of a tiny oceanic enclave called Texada Island, this work explores the elasticity of time, and the nature of how we spend ours.
Uninterrupted-VR immerses viewers in the spectacle of migrating Pacific Salmon, an ancient cycle of renewal that has fed entire ecosystems — uninterrupted — since before recorded time. Combining art and the magic of virtual reality, Uninterrupted-VR brings a wild river right into the heart of a city, exploring the connected destiny of cities and nature everywhere.
Using a slow-technology process of creating photographs with a pinhole camera and exposure periods measured in days and months — from solstice to solstice — the Pinhole Camera Project saw more than one hundred cameras situated throughout the valley — in a special spot chosen by each individual taking part.
Two immersive VIRTUAL REALITY experiences — Uninterrupted-VR and Texada — are being shown throughout the run of the Immersed • RETURN TO WATER 2025 program at the Comox Valley Art Gallery.
SEATING IS LIMITED to five visitors per project experience.
To participate in an experience, REGISTER by emailing register@comoxvalleyartgallery.com
or
DROP-IN prior to show start times to access any un-booked seats.
Showtimes are Wednesday – Saturday:
MORNING:
- 10:30am
- 11:30am
AFTERNOON:
- 1:30pm
- 2:30pm
- 3:30pm
The VR experiences take about FORTY MINUTES. This includes being oriented, assisted into and out of the viewing gear, and the immersive experiences (Texada – seventeen minutes | Uninterrupted-VR – twenty-four minutes).
NOTE: immersive virtual reality experiences are not recommended for young children. All children under ten years of age must be accompanied by an adult. The program also offers alternative non-VR experiences for visitors to enjoy.
RELATED EVENTS
Water Ways – Comox Valley Gallery Hop | April 1 – April 30
Art Opening with Artist Talks | 1:00pm on Saturday, April 12
Arts-based Activations + Make Stations | April 12 – May 24
Throughout the convergent program, CVAG is inviting the community to participate by offering creative responses that reflect the past, assert the present, and envision the future in which a healthy relationship with our watery world is restored.
The Comox Valley Art Gallery is committed to creating safer spaces where everyone can participate.
All ages are welcome.
CVAG spaces are accessible.
Programs are barrier-free (no cost). DONATIONS are appreciated and contribute to ongoing community interactive programming.
PUBLIC HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS: we ask that visitors choose not to visit if they are experiencing symptoms of colds and flus.
Hand sanitation dispensers are available at CVAG. Wearing a mask is at the discretion of the visitor.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Comox Valley Art Gallery is grateful to operate on the Unceded Traditional Territory of the K’ómoks Nation.
This program is made possible through the support of our FUNDERS: City of Courtenay, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Government of Canada, Province of BC, Comox Valley Regional District, Town of Comox | LOCAL SUPPORT: ABC Printing, Hitec Screen Printing, SD71 Printshop, Shine-Eze Ltd., + Paintbox Painting.
ARTISTS’ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Josephine Anderson + Claire Sanford – National Film Board of Canada, Charm Games, + Kent Bye (Voices of VR podcast #1332).
Exhibitions
-
Texada
Real and imagined landscapes document a journey of Texada's formation to the current moment.
April 12 - May 24 2025 -
Uninterrupted-VR
A wild river. An urban bridge. A cycle uninterrupted through the ages.
April 12 - May 24 2025 -
ChronoScapes
More than one hundred cameras were situated throughout the valley — in special spots chosen by community participants.
April 12 - June 13 2025
Events
-
Source Encounters - Site-Specific Walking Tour
A site-specific walking tour that engages through story, imagination, and immersive experience.
May 8 2025 / 4:00 - 6:00pm -
Learn the Basics of 360-Degree Filming + Creating VR - Workshop
Josephine Anderson and Claire Sanford will lead a hands-on workshop, taking participants from ideation to creation.
April 14 2025 / 9:30am - 4:00pm -
Immersed • RETURN TO WATER 2025 - Art Opening with Artist Talks
Celebrate CVAG's return to water with VR experiences, sound design, LED screenings, installations, and printed imagery.
April 12 2025 / 1:00 - 5:00pm -
Water Ways - Comox Valley Gallery Hop
This spring, nine community galleries present programming that has water as its core theme.
April 1 - 30 2025
