Nanaimo Art Gallery and off-site
1 August – 5 October 2025

From Nanaimo Art Gallery website: League Nanaimo is a project led by Vancouver and Saltspring Island based artist Germaine Koh that unites creative process and play. Community members of all ages are invited to gather and exercise creativity by developing new games and sports through iterative, embodied activities. Games evolve organically as they are played, and strategies emerge through trial and improvisation, and sometimes new tools are invented on the fly.

Koh’s playful art installation turns Nanaimo Art Gallery into an experimental arena of sorts where visitors are welcome to jump, throw, dance, run, and touch; all actions that are usually frowned upon in art museums. In this space, that is a cross between a hockey rink, a dance hall, a tennis court, and an archery range, you are invited to interact with objects and markings, and with each other, and could find yourself developing your own games.

The Gallery also serves as a hub for community outreach as the artist and Gallery facilitators bring League Nanaimo into the broader community. During the run of the exhibition, League activities not only take place in the gallery, but also at Nanaimo parks. Listings of events are available on our website, and at the Gallery.

Launched by Germaine Koh in 2012, League is an art project that shares creative process rather than finished artworks. Processes of learning, adapting, and iterating are central to the overall concept. League invites us to experience the similarities between the improvisation, negotiation, reflection, and critical thinking that happen both in sport and art-making. The project is based in a belief that games, sport and play are serious forms of problem-solving and even problem-making.

League Nanaimo is the third exhibition through which Nanaimo Art Gallery asks the question: How can we play together?