The Unreliable Narrator: Writing in the Digital Age | Artist Talk by Luanda Casella
2026-02-05 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Vancouver) | SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hastings St, Vancouver, B.C., V6B1H4, Canada
Join us for an engaging evening presented by VLACC, in partnership with the PuSh Festival, featuring writer and performing artist Luanda Casella as she explores the power and danger of storytelling in today’s post-truth era.
Reckoning with the cult of story in our post-truth era, Luanda Casella, writer, performing artist, and master of narrative subversion, examines how the timeless human desire for storytelling has been hijacked by the machinery of persuasion.
In this lecture, she introduces her artistic practice and research into The Unreliable Narrator, revealing how deceptive discourse and irony operate across literature, performance, and digital culture to both manipulate and awaken critical thought.
Lili Vieira de Carvalho, Executive Director of VLACC, will moderate the conversation.
Don’t miss this thought-provoking talk that challenges how we engage with truth, fiction, and the stories that shape our understanding of the world.
Date: February 5, 2026
Time: 5 pm – 7 pm
Location: SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V6B 1H4)
This is a FREE event. Please RSVP by clicking on the button below.

About the Artist

Luanda Casella is a writer, performing artist, and theatre director from São Paulo, based in Ghent, Belgium. A resident artist at NTGent, her work is internationally acclaimed and known for its ingenious storytelling and incisive deconstruction of language. She is currently a teacher in the drama department at the KASK Conservatory in Ghent, and a PhD candidate examining “deceptive discourse” in communication processes and “unreliable narrators” in classic and contemporary works of fiction.
Casella has also been a guest lecturer at leading institutions, including DAS Graduate School (Amsterdam), KABK (The Hague), P.A.R.T.S, School for Contemporary Dance (Brussels), Toneelacademie Maastricht Institute of Performative Arts, Universität der Künste Berlin, Cité Universitaire de Paris, and Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.

About the moderator
Lili Vieira de Carvalho is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre (VLACC). Originally from Brazil, she has more than 30 years of experience in arts management and community-engaged cultural programming. At VLACC, she has led the organization’s growth, building partnerships across Vancouver’s arts sector and championing Latin American artists and stories. Lili was recently awarded the Ordem do Rio Branco medal from the government of Brazil for her contributions to cultural exchange.

In Partnership with PuSh Festival

Supported by SFU

Trouble Score: Luanda Casella / Pablo Casella / ntgent (Belgium/Brazil)
2026-02-07 19:30 - 21:30 | Vancouver Playhouse, 600 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
VLACC is pleased to partner with Push Festival to present Trouble Score, by Brazilian duo Luanda and Pablo Casella.
Part ritual, part pop concert, Trouble Score is a hallucinatory portrait of family myth refracted through the lens of magic realism.
Weaving multi-layered text, vocals, sound samples, and live music within an otherworldly lighting composition that turns each scene into a luminous portal, this one-night-only performance is a storytelling séance that’s as witty as it is disruptive.
Trouble Score revisits an old family scandal—a web of fragmented criminal stories that unravels into an impossible plot, where childhood innocence collides with the distorted reality of trauma, set against the backdrop of racial segregation and a military dictatorship.
Blending humour and complicity, Trouble Score captures the fantastic, mysterious, and often surreal nature of family dynamics. Luanda Casella, known for her incisive deconstruction of language and fascination with the unreliable narrator, crafts text that is both razor-sharp and darkly funny. Pablo Casella composes intricate landscapes of melodic intimacy and rhythmic resonance. Nick Verstand, whose work explores the edges of light, space, and human perception, sculpts immersive architectures that breathe with the performers.
Together, they turn family legend into a ritual of reinvention—a storytelling alchemy of music, language, and light.

Date: Saturday, February 07, 2025
Time: Starts at 7:30 PM
Location: Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton St, Vancouver, BC V6B 5N6)

About the Artists

Luanda Casella is a writer, performing artist, and theatre director from São Paulo, based in Ghent, Belgium. A resident artist at NTGent, her work is internationally acclaimed and known for its ingenious storytelling and incisive deconstruction of language. She is currently a teacher at the drama department at the KASK Conservatory, Ghent, and a PhD candidate examining “deceptive discourse” in communication processes and “unreliable narrators” in classic and contemporary works of fiction. Casella has also been a guest lecturer at leading institutions, including DAS Graduate School (Amsterdam), KABK (The Hague), P.A.R.T.S, School for Contemporary Dance (Brussels), Toneelacademie Maastricht Institute of Performative Arts, Universität der Künste Berlin, Cité Universitaire de Paris, and Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.
Pablo Casella is a composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His ear for harmonies is unique in contemporary music. With his skills and virtuosity, he knows how to paint landscapes with sound, emotions with melody and power with rhythm. In the theatre world, he is active as a composer of soundtracks, producer and live musician; he has collaborated on Antigone in the Amazon (Milo Rau/NTGent/MST), Ferox Tempus, KillJoy Quiz and Elektra Unbound (Luanda Casella & NTGent), and BAM!, Saperlipopette and LOS (Ultima Thule). Casella is currently touring internationally with Antigone in the Amazon and has already performed the show in ten different countries and at renowned performing arts festivals such as Wiener Festwochen and Festival D’Avignon. Casella has played at prestigious festivals such as Dour, Les Ardentes, Dranouter, Gent Jazz and Jazz Middelheim. With his own band, Little Dots, he has released two albums on V2 Records (2014 and 2018), for which he was responsible for the compositions, arrangements and co-production. Little Dots was artist in residence at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. The band toured as the opening act for Gabriel Rios and Hooverphonic in venues such as AB (Brussels), De Roma (Antwerp) and Paradiso (Amsterdam), and at festivals such as Gent Jazz and Eurosonic.
co-presented with Push Festival

Supported by

Latin American Short Stories Reading Group with Dolores “Lolita” Gambroudes Hidalgo
2026-02-10 18:30 - 20:00 | Britannia Community Centre – Conference Room, 1661 Napier Street, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
VLACC is proud to partner for the first time with the Department of Latin American Studies at Langara College to present the next session of our Latin American Short Stories Reading Group. This evening will be facilitated by Professor Dolores “Lolita” Gambroudes Hidalgo, who will guide participants through two powerful short stories from Latin America:

“One of These Days” by Gabriel García Márquez
“The Pongo’s Dream” by José María Arguedas

Gabriel García Márquez’s “One of These Days” exposes the quiet brutality of authority through a tense encounter, while José María Arguedas’s “The Pongo’s Dream” uses Indigenous storytelling and satire to reveal the cruelty of colonial hierarchies. Together, these brief but powerful texts invite readers to reflect on oppression, resistance, and dignity in Latin America.
This gathering offers a welcoming space for thoughtful discussion, collective reflection, and connection through literature. No prior knowledge of Latin American literature is required — everyone is welcome.
The stories will be discussed in English, and both English translations and the original Spanish versions will be provided.
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Time: 6:30 to 8:00 pm
Location: Conference Room at Britannia Community Services Centre (1661 Napier St, Vancouver, BC V5L 4X4).
Please read the stories in advance of the session.
Access the readings here:
English
Español

This event will be photographed and filmed for promotional purposes. If you prefer not to appear in photos or videos, please let us know in advance by emailing thais@vlacc.ca.
About the Facilitator

Dolores “Lolita” Gambroudes Hidalgo is a professor in the Department of Latin American Studies and the Department of Modern Languages (Spanish) at Langara College, where she also serves as Coordinator of the Latin American Studies Department. With roots in Ecuador, Lolita has traveled, studied, and worked extensively throughout Latin America and Spain—regions that continue to inspire and shape her personal and academic life.
Her specializations include Latin American literature, sociolinguistics, and Indigenous topics of the Andean region. She teaches a wide range of courses exploring the Hispanic world, including Latin American art as social change, politics and history, anthropology, and culture. Lolita also teaches all levels of Spanish and is deeply passionate about sharing her language and cultural heritage.

In partnership with the Department of Latin American Studies at Langara College

With the support of Britannia Community and Services Centre
