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If you’ve stepped outside for even a second, you’ll be consumed by World Cup content. One local artist is using the moment to ask a less celebratory question: what does it actually mean to be a “world-class” city?
Opening June 25 at Slice of Life Gallery, Ashley Andel’s World Class arrives in the middle of the World Cup and nearly 40 years after Expo ’86. The exhibition combines found retail signage, scrambled corporate slogans, and images of Vancouver’s fading mega-event infrastructure to explore the city’s ongoing pursuit of global recognition.
Two things can be true at once: the sport can bring people together while FIFA, as an organization, remains worthy of scrutiny. It’s that tension between genuine community and carefully managed spectacle that runs through much of Andel’s work.
The artist, whose practice is informed by years spent working warehouse and service jobs, created the pieces using discarded signage collected from a former department store workplace. By rearranging familiar corporate messaging, she uncovered phrases that feel less motivational and more like accidental admissions.
Titles such as Cruel stupid people, You poor loser; Gold mine, and Digital divisive transform polished workplace language into something stranger, darker, and often funny.
For Andel, the critique extends beyond retail culture. Many of the works are set against images of the Plaza of Nations and the remnants of Expo ’86, drawing parallels between corporate branding and civic branding. Both, she suggests, rely on carefully constructed performances designed to project success and attract attention.
At a moment when “world-class” is being repeated across marketing campaigns, sponsorships, and civic messaging, Andel’s exhibition pauses to examine the phrase itself.
When: June 25 to July 13
Where: Slice of Life Gallery
Admission: pay what you can