Jim Lambie: Zobop (Colour-Chrome), exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery from October 22, 2025 to October 12, 2026. (Photo: Vancouver Art Gallery)
Art doesn’t have to be contained inside gallery frames—it can spread across entire rooms. Glasgow-based artist, DJ, and musician Jim Lambie transforms everyday architectural spaces into immersive, energetic installations with vibrant vinyl tape in geometric patterns. His work, titled Zobop (Colour-Chrome), turns Vancouver Art Gallery’s grand, neoclassical rotunda into a psychedelic space pulsating with color.
Lambie’s made-up word “Zobop” is a playful homage to Jazz Bebop. Through language, rhythm, and color, his installation captures musicality and motion. The entire installation took several weeks to install, and each strip of industrial vinyl tape was applied by hand. Lambie followed the contours of the architecture, creating lines of vibrant color that almost appear to spill like liquid paint.
“Lambie’s Zobop (Colour-Chrome) transforms that formality into something alive, dynamic and joyful,” says Eva Respini, the gallery’s interim co-CEO and curator. “The floor becomes a painting, the staircase becomes a sculpture, and visitors become part of the composition simply by moving through it. The work reclaims the space as a place of play, color, and community.”
Since it was installed, Zobop (Colour-Chrome) has encouraged visitors to explore the space in their own time, dance among the colors, and even sprawl out on the floor. Lambie has managed to turn the ordinary experience of using a stairwell into a playful experience like no other. “It turns a transitional space into a destination; a staircase into an immersive, energetic experience,” says Respini. “It reminds us that art can be immediate, collective, and joyful.”
Check out photos of Zobop (Colour-Chrome) below and visit the incredible installation at Vancouver Art Gallery until October 12, 2026.
Zobop (Colour-Chrome) by Jim Lambie turns Vancouver Art Gallery’s grand, neoclassical rotunda into a psychedelic space pulsating with color.
Jim Lambie: Zobop (Colour-Chrome), exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery from October 22, 2025 to October 12, 2026. (Photo: Vancouver Art Gallery)
The entire installation took several weeks to install, and each strip of industrial vinyl tape was applied by hand.
Jim Lambie: Zobop (Colour-Chrome), exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery from October 22, 2025 to October 12, 2026. (Photo: Vancouver Art Gallery)
The artist turns the ordinary experience of using a stairwell into a playful experience like no other.
Visitors enjoy Jim Lambie: Zobop (Colour-Chrome), exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery from October 22, 2025 to October 12, 2026. (Photo: Vancouver Art Gallery)
Visitors enjoy Jim Lambie: Zobop (Colour-Chrome), exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery from October 22, 2025 to October 12, 2026. (Photo: Vancouver Art Gallery)
Jim Lambie: Zobop (Colour-Chrome), exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery from October 22, 2025 to October 12, 2026. (Photo: Vancouver Art Gallery)
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