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Open Space executive director in a coma in hospital, not expected to recover

Open Space will be closed until mid-March as the artist-run centre come to grips with the sudden hospitalization of its executive director, Raj Sen.
Raj Sen - Open Space
Raj Sen, executive director of Open Space. VIA OPEN SPACE

Open Space will be closed until mid-March as the artist-run centre come to grips with the sudden hospitalization of its executive director, Raj Sen.

“It is with great sadness that I share the news that our beloved executive director, Raj Sen, is currently hospitalized in critical condition,” Open Space board chairman Charles Campbell said in a statement. “Raj is in a coma and is not expected to make a recovery.”

Sen, who has an art history degree from the University of Victoria, joined the centre as acting executive director in 2018 and was formally appointed to the position in 2019. He worked previously for the Sundaram Tagore Gallery in Singapore and the Ayala Museum in Manila.

The centre is asking those with messages to share to do so by emailing careof@openspace.ca. They will be collected and passed along to Sen’s family.

Open Space, which celebrates its 50th year of operation in 2022, is one of the oldest artist-run centres in Canada. It has been at its current location, 510 Fort St., since 1972.

mdevlin@timescolonist.com