Thursdays Reading at Candahar Art Bar, Feb 21, Sunday, 2-4pm

The Thursdays Writing Collective  participated in the Cultural Olympiad at the art installation “The Candahar,” on Sunday, Feb 21, 2-4pm, at Playwrights Theatre Centre on Granville Island.

For two weeks, The Candahar was a locus for social interaction and the host site for an ambitious series of events — musical programs, theatrical presentations, performances and dialogues, both scripted and unscripted — curated by Winnipeg artist Paul Butler and Vancouver author Michael Turner (Hard Core Logo).

The name “Candahar” refers to the original location of the now defunct Blackthorn Bar in Belfast pub. Irish artist Theo Sims recreated the bar in Granville Island’s Playwright Theatre. Part sculpture, part theatrical stage, The Candahar was an artwork that also functioned as a bar, open to the public and staffed, in collaboration with two Belfast bartenders who were unscripted performers. The project fused the authentic with fantasy, spectacle with stage, and acted as a catalyst for conversation, debate and dialogue — and a pint here or there.