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VANCOUVERITES: Ken Lum Surrounded By New Jersey Toughs & Being Scared By Bats

The good folks at Pecha Kucha always throw down with a solid line-up of people, but this month they present the best of the best. February 29th will be 20th installment of the popular 20 images x 20 seconds presentation format. To mark the auspicious day, organizers at Cause + Affect asked PKN enthusiasts to choose their very favourite of 226 past presenters. The result is the All-Stars Special Edition. Vancouver artist Ken Lum was one of the chosen (full list of presenters here), so we caught up with him to ask a few questions…

Three things about your neighbourhood that make you want to live there? The civic election card says Fairview but I live equally close to Mount Pleasant.  There are very few people living in the area where I live and that’s one reason why I like it so much–it remains largely undiscovered and yet so central. Another reason for living there is proximity to Michael St Clair Cleaners–they’re open Saturdays and Sundays and pretty much every day of the year.

Name the thing that you eat that is bad for you that you will never stop eating?  I don’t eat anything that I know is bad for me that I can’t stop eating.

Default drink/cocktail of choice? Tomato juice or red wine.

The Vancouverite that you admire most and why? I greatly admire Bill and Jack Wong of Modernize Tailors.  I first met them when I was about 5 years old, 50 years ago. Their lives teach us a lot about the history of Vancouver.

One sure-fire way to snap out of a malaise?  I tend to wallow in my malaises.

The historical personalities, both good and bad, that fascinate you the most?  Albert Einstein, Lu Xun, Aung San Suu Kyi, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, the Soong Sisters, Rainer Werner Fassbinder come to mind, but there are many others I could name.

What are the three things you’d like to change about Vancouver? Introduce a Ward Electoral System, greatly densify all arterial roads throughout Vancouver, more even distribution of public assisted operations (from senior’s housing to halfway homes) throughout the city, close down the aquarium or at the very least move it out of Stanley Park.

What does art do for community? I am not sure.

Your go to, no-frills place for dinner? The buffet bar at Whole Foods on Cambie.

If you could board a plane this afternoon, where would it be taking you? Though I have been to Peru, I did not have the chance to visit Manchu Picchu. I was not long ago in Hong Kong and can’t wait to go there again. I get my suits made there from W.W. Chan tailors.

The one place that you have the least interest in ever visiting? Pyongyang I would say is near the top of my list of places I have no interest in visiting. There are places I have been to such as Vilnius, Lithuania, Invercargill, New Zealand, Thunder Bay, Ontario and Columbus, Ohio that I have no interest in revisiting.

The strangest place you’ve ever been to? I found Dubai and Moscow both strange.

The three books that you read that made an impact on you in your formative years? When I was a young boy, I was quite affected by The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller, The Way of the Buddha, and Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heilein.

What is the best way to get to know a neighbourhood? Through the variety and quality of the ‘ethnic’ restaurants.

Where was the last place you traveled to for work or pleasure? Presently, I am writing from Banff, Alberta but I was in Tokyo just prior to coming here.

The strangest talent that you possess? I have a keen sense of direction no matter where I happen to be.

Shoe of choice? I have several pairs of D. H. Pollak shoes of Austria.

Your ancestry? Cantonese Chinese.

Your three favourite films? Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray), Sunrise (F. W. Murnau) and The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (Mizoguchi Kenji) come to mind, but I have a lot of favorites.

Architectural style that you most identify with? early International Style.

Your major character flaw? I internalize too much.

The character flaw in others that you can’t abide? Gossip mongers.

What are you the most proud of? I am most proud of my son, Linus.

What is the best thing about your work? The opportunity to really see the world, warts and all.

What is the worst thing about your work? The art world can often be as enervating as any other world.

What are you listening to as you answer these questions?  My wife is humming a tune and I am trying to figure out the tune.

What musical instrument do you secretly long to play? I really wanted to learn how to play the piano when I was little.

What is the game that you’re best at?  Badminton.

What is the one animal that scares you the most?  Probably a bat.

If you had a motto, what would it be? Suffer the small stuff in silence.

Scariest situation you’ve ever been in? I was once surrounded by several young toughs in a protracted standoff while I was speaking in a payphone booth in Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey.

Your least favourite word? Wow.

Your favourite curse word? Shit.

Your first memory? My mother looking at me utterly happy.

The song that you could listen to on repeat for an hour? La Mer as sung by Charles Trenet.

The first three things that you do every morning? The first three things I do in the morning that has nothing to do with hygiene or the bodily would be boil water to make tea, turn on the computer to check email and catch up on world news, spend some moments thinking about what needs to be done in the day.

Describe your favourite photograph: My favorite photograph would be any number of beautiful pictures of my wife holding our son.

When you can’t sleep: Very often, I cannot sleep, so I just lie there thinking about all kinds of things, including painful memories as well as very happy ones.

What is beauty? Beauty is a quality far more common among the world’s disadvantaged than the world’s privileged.

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