What Lab, 1814 Pandora Street, Vancouver, BC (2026)

05/08/2026

Exquisite Pressure x

May 15-16
7:30pm⁠
$17, no one turned away⁠
What Lab, 1814 Pandora St.⁠
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Warm welcome to our first featured artists for this round of Exquisite Pressure, + ! Check out their new work
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⁠🖇️ Lonely Offices⁠ 🖇️
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Lonely Offices is a sound theatre work by multimedia performers Rafael Zen + Khalil Alomar that discusses colonial-capitalistic-narcissistic techniques of submission (work culture, gender roles, linguistic barriers, borders, boredom, repetition) in a surreal universe where Severance meets John Cage, and Meredith Monk meets The Office. This exploration on noise art, live improvisation and experimental composition questions: how can we deny this compulsory culture of lonely offices?
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🖇️ Rafael Zen is a Brazilian-Canadian sound performer and experimental composer creating on the stolen lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

They research cyborg performance, wearable technologies, speculative languages, q***r identity, and noise/disruption in improvisational composition. Their work blends video, theatre, installation, noise collage and sound performance, engaging with q***r cinema and decolonial storytelling. They hold an Master’s in Contemporary Art and currently research New Media + Sound Art at Emily Carr University.

Recent collaborations include works and awards with the Vancouver Biennale, BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery, Western Front Gallery, What Lab, Kokoro Dance Society and Theatre Replacement.

🖇️ Khalil Alomar is a q***r Lebanese-Canadian multidisciplinary artist pursuing a degree in New Media and Sound Art with a Minor in Art and Text.

He is interested in interventions against the autopilot of contemporary life, working in the fields of multimedia performance, intermedia installation, sound art and experimental composition.

His practice blends DIY analog electronics, digital tools and multimedia environments through the language of the glitch and the absurd, reclaiming one’s agency within digital and physical systems by investigating sonic and performative satires against compulsory labor, gender troubles, surveillance as confession, and other colonial-capitalistic schemes.
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Tickets on sale now! whatlab.ca/exp-x-theatre-replacement/

04/19/2026

And last but not least from ExP x we have Ronald Li aka Ooze, and Teg Sooch!
rl and will share their work:

🌀 Live Lab Love 🌀

The story of those with no place to go, given a chance to live through scraped soles. And a familiar feeling, from beginning to end, of the countless hours that go into showing your love for just one song.

Exquisite Pressure
April 24-25th @ 7:30pm⁠
$17
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Get your tickets now, while you still can! whatlab.ca/exp-x-ouro-collective

04/16/2026

ExP x is next week!

April 24-25th 7:30pm
$17, no one turned away
What Lab, 1814 Pandora St.

Say hello to our first featured artist for this round of Exquisite Pressure, ! She'll be sharing her work:

⚡️ Time in Two ⚡️

A journey through a hidden chapter of one’s life, where surrendering to limits leads to discovery.

Rita Spirit is a Ukrainian-born, Vancouver-based Popping and Hip Hop dancer specializing in freestyle. For over a decade, she has taught, performed, and competed across Asia, Europe, and North America.

She is the founder of Cypher Killa, her own dance event with a unique concept focused on cyphers and using dance as a tool for conversation, held in Ukraine, Sweden, China, and most recently Vancouver. For Rita, dance is a tool for healing, self-discovery, and connecting with others while expressing one’s own story.

Tickets on sale now! whatlab.ca/exp-x-ouro-collective
(psssst this show is going to be so 🔥)

03/02/2026

Last but certainly not least⁠...⁠

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What Lab proudly presents ⁠
Exquisite Pressure x Theatre Replacement⁠
⁠May 15-16 @ 7:30pm⁠
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ExP is a WL series for performing artists to share new works-in-progress in front of an audience. Each ExP is hosted by a different company or collective, shaping each event with their own flavour and questions and curiosities. ⁠
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This round, we've teamed up with the mighty to bring you works by:⁠
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Elio Zarrillo @⁠uncleelioo⁠
+⁠
Rafael Zen and Khalil Alomar ⁠
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$17, no one turned away for lack of funds⁠
⁠Tickets on sale SOON see you later 😘⁠
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Check our feed to see other upcoming ExP's with and

03/02/2026

Even more ExP - Save the date⁠ ⁠
⁠
⁠
What Lab proudly presents ⁠
Exquisite Pressure x OURO Collective⁠
⁠April 24-25 @ 7:30pm⁠
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⁠
ExP is a WL series for performing artists to share new works-in-progress in front of an audience. Each ExP is hosted by a different company or collective, shaping each event with their own flavours and spices and curiosities. ⁠
⁠
This round, we've teamed up with the amazing to bring you works by:⁠
⁠ ⁠
💫 Kevin "Shazam" Li ⁠
💫 Rita Spirit ⁠
💫 Ronald Li w/ Tegvaran Sooch⁠ .rl ⁠
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$17, no one turned away for lack of funds⁠
⁠Tickets on sale SOON so mark your cals 🩵⁠
⁠
Check our feed to see other upcoming ExP's with and

03/02/2026

ExP is baaaaaaack. We missed you.

What Lab proudly presents ⁠
Exquisite Pressure x The Only Animal
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⁠
ExP is a WL series for performing artists to share new works-in-progress in front of an audience. Each ExP is hosted by a different company or collective, shaping each event with their questions and curiosities. This round, we've teamed up with friends at to bring you works by:
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🪨 ⁠Alyssa Amarshi + Sarah Nash Wong
🪶 Noelle Lee, George Berking + Kyra Fay , , .gram
🍄 Sarah K. Finn .k.finn
⁠

March 27-28 @ 7:30pm⁠
$17, no one turned away for lack of funds⁠
⁠Tickets on sale now, link in bio

Stay tuned to learn more about these artists and their works.

AND if TOA's Slow Socials haven't come across your feed yet, go check out this wonderful series of hands-on workshops. Be part of an opening up of worlds for these selected artists, and deep dive into the works to be presented at our ExP performance. More at ⁠

Check our feed to see other upcoming ExP's with and

02/17/2026

What Lab presents, as part of our INaS series:⁠
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Willilish'd⁠
Created by As and When⁠
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March 5-7, 2026⁠
7:30pm⁠
$17⁠
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Willilish’d is for all who sang to us, and all those we sing to.⁠
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By re-composing, lovingly bastardizing, and distorting nursery rhymes and lullabies, Willilish’d embraces and confronts the inherited structures of care, gender, and language that lullabies carry. A hybrid theatre and musical performance, Willilish’d is rooted in recordings of conversations between Hayley Sullivan and her mum, in which they try to recall the words and melodies of songs from Hayley’s childhood. ⁠
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What do we inherit, and what do we make? ⁠
What happens when we grow up?⁠
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Featuring:
⁠Thule van den Dam - Creator/performer ⁠
Hayley Sullivan Creator/performer ⁠
Melanie Yeats - Dramaturg ⁠
Samira Banihashemi - Sound technician ⁠
Sarah Finn - Puppeteer .k.finn⁠
Alex Caprara - Consultant: Lighting Designer ⁠
Moya O'Connell - Consultant: Direction ⁠
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Tickets and details at whatlab.ca/willilishd
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photo by Laura Harvey

11/28/2025

WOWEE WOWW SO MUCH LOVE

I can't even begin to put into words the appreciation we have for everyone who came out to The (Art) Auction, audience and artists alike.

We laughed, we sang, we danced, we screamed in anguish, we got bloody, we got greasy, we threw our money at WL in the form of tickets, we tried our best to avoid eye contact with "The Roommate". We gathered together to rally around a community gem. And I'm so grateful fore these two nights. None of this would have been possible without every single artist that showed up to offer their talents. WL is indebted to your time, your skills, your ability to make people spend their money. Love to:

eddy420

oke

chloe

and more I'm certainly forgetting to name

And the biggest thank you of all to the team behind this behemoth of a show:

It's vulnerable to ask for help - and if you know me or you've seen the way I run What Lab, then you know it's not something I'm inclined to ask for. I am still floored by the way you all responded, I never DREAMED we'd get this close to our 15k goal.

And I realize like 7 different arts spaces/orgs have had a similar cry for help recently, and I know we only have so many bucks of disposable income to go around. But If there's anyone out there whose like "oh yeah, I meant to donate to that" here is your chance, the last big push. Help us get to that goal that is so so so close.

photos by .jay.walker

11/20/2025

Even more ways to support?!

What Lab t-shirts now for sale
Available online or at The (Art) Auction by , opening this Fri

Designed by Rio Trenaman .trenaman
Printed locally at .studios

Yes, our shirts rep What Lab, but they also help you showcase your local artist support with designer Rio Trenaman and local print shop Good Luck Studios.

Two colours available (Not Quite Pink and Not Quite Brown) with limited sizes, so don't sleep on it.

www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/what-lab-shirts

11/14/2025

📣 Help Save What Lab!

Let’s start off with two things:

⭐ No one reading this has beaucoup extra cash laying around, we know this. There are many ways to support, like sharing to your networks, connecting us with folks who maybe have more capacity to help—or media outlets/micro influencers you know who can get our ask out—volunteering, etc etc.

⭐ AND one MAJOR way you can help is to buy your ticket to 𝓣𝓱𝓮 (𝓐𝓻𝓽) 𝓐𝓾𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 by Santi Henderson , Nov 21-22 @ 7pm! Link in bio. (If throwing your money at us feels weird, maybe throwing your money and getting a show out of it is less weird.)

❇❇ What Lab Donation Drive ❇❇

We need help!

What Lab currently has no operational funding, which means we rely on project grants for our programming. So, while we’re able (and eager) to distribute our resources to artists, we can allocate very little of this to our day-to-day costs like rent, staff, and maintenance fees.

Last fiscal we paid over $30,000 to artists, premiered 12 new works, and gave over 700 hours(!!) of free studio space to artists. Not to mention being a home to 80 external renters last year. ⁠This is all amazing stuff, and a ton of work, achieved through many hours of volunteer labor.

We are working hard to keep our doors open. However, in order to get through our current fiscal challenges, we are asking for a little help. We’ve set a fundraising goal of $15,000.

We call What Lab a safer space to risk failure. But what does this even mean? It means we give artists space to pivot or abandon ideas, to start fresh when needed, to generate from a place of unknowing. The real secret is no work is a failure, as long as an artist feels empowered to work honestly, authentically, gently.

If you have ever benefited from having What Lab in Vancouver; if you’ve seen a show, premiered a new work, run a class or joined a workshop; if you’ve danced, sang, gathered in community, had a wild night or a quiet morning; if you’ve laid on our blue floor, staring up at the ceiling, contemplating your creative world, then please donate today.

You can find a link in our bio to the donation page. Any amount helps. Thank you ❤️❤️

What Lab

05/08/2026

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