Cultural summer | Exhibitions not to be missed in Montreal

The Olmecs at Pointe-à-Callière

Here is an exhibition not to be missed this summer. Launched last April, it focuses on the Olmecs, who lived for more than 2000 years on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. This pre-Columbian people preceded all the Mesoamerican civilizations that we know of (Toltecs, Mayans, Aztecs), which makes the approximately 300 objects, stone sculptures, steles or jade figurines on display there even more valuable. Until September 15.

Jean Siag, The Press

Visit the Pointe-à-Callière museum website

Le Dômesicle until July

The Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) is organizing its immersive Dômesicle evenings – you get it, in its newly renovated dome – from May 24, with Australian DJ Roza Terenzi, in tandem with visual artists Pretty Privilege and mayalabae from microrave collective. Dômesicle evenings continue until the end of July, until 4 a.m. The SAT has notably concluded a partnership with the Francos for an evening which will take place on June 21 with the French artists Dombrance and Dylan Dylan. Until July 26.

Jean Siag, The Press

Visit the SAT website

Taking root at the Phi Foundation

Certainly one of the exhibitions to see this summer in Montreal, Efflorescence/The Way We Wake brings together two feminist artists who explore a lot the themes of representation (in mythologies, in particular) and roots, especially those which are deep. The works of Marigold Santos and Rajni Perera are eloquent, explicit, but also leave plenty of room for the person who receives them and interprets them according to their own origins. Gorgeous. This is the excuse you needed to go to the PHI Foundation, in Old Montreal – where all exhibitions are presented without entry fees.

Stéphanie Bérubé, The Press

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Fashion at the McCord Stewart Museum

The Sherbrooke Street West History Museum inevitably broadens its audience when it presents costume and fashion exhibitions, which it does regularly. This time, it is the work of British photographer Norman Parkinson which is highlighted, through his portraits taken from the 1930s to the 1980s. He photographed the greats (Audrey Hepburn, David Bowie, Jane Birkin…) from a different angle , less stuck than what was being done in fashion photography at the time. The exhibition brings together photos and magazine covers. At the same time, the museum presents Portraits and fashion – Photographers from Quebec beyond borders.

Stéphanie Bérubé, The Press

Visit the McCord Museum website

The (great) risks of cultural centers

Braille, Art beyond the visual brings together blind and Afro-descendant artists for a joint creation where braille and other tactile elements are integrated. This produces an inclusive, very promising exhibition, which will be presented this summer at the Maison de la culture Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. Whether you stay in town or visit Montreal, there are a ton of activities and exhibitions in cultural centers (outside Montreal too!) offered for everyone. It’s the best way to have access to art, to take risks by going towards artists that we don’t know, who sometimes lead us far from our benchmarks.

Stéphanie Bérubé, The Press

Consult the calendar of exhibitions in the cultural centers

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, always…

The summer exhibition on Flemish art begins at the beginning of June, but we advise you not to go to the Museum of Fine Arts just to see Rubens and to leave quickly after a visit to the store. No no no. There’s more: three super interesting exhibitions are still on display. First of all Pop life!, a perfect and joyful introduction to pop art from Quebec and the world. Then, the Canadian Wanda Koop, who is gracefully interested in the Moon and Ukraine, in particular. And the prints of master Hiroshige. You definitely need to take the time to go see them.

Stéphanie Bérubé, The Press

Visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts website

Women in the spotlight and Gods and Monsters at the MAC

Until August 18, visitors are invited to rethink their relationship with nature through the collective exhibition women volcanoes forests torrents which presents the work of nine female artists of different generations and origins living in Quebec. The installations of these great ambassadors of the visual arts invite us to listen to the elements of life, ecosystems and territories, in a non-dominant way. And the public won’t want to miss the mural Gods and Monsters, by Montreal artist Mara Eagle, located at the entrance to the MAC. Imposing at 19 meters in length, this majestic fresco in bright colors borrows from a fantastic, baroque and crazy universe. It offers immersion at the heart of an allegorical story which depicts a shipwreck experienced by hybrid characters. Provoking a feeling of disturbing strangeness, these half-gods, half-humans come from imaginary worlds of popular culture and classical culture. A nice addition to the museum’s commercial outdoor space.

Karine Bouchard, special collaboration

Visit the MAC website