Turn off the night
Not so long ago, we lived in fear of the night. This state of affairs was the norm for humanity for millennia. In the last 200 years, we have witnessed a slow eradication of the night, to the point where light pollution in our cities is a problem. As the art historian explains Josianne Poirier“among the many factors that explain the over-illumination of our living environments, we should not underestimate the fact that humans are diurnal animals who tend to become frightened when their vision is obstructed.”
At the Grantham Foundation, in the exhibition Turn off the nightPoirier will reveal to us how “darkness enriches life”. This event “is part of a desire to reflect on better nocturnal cohabitation between species, which a reduction in artificial lighting helps to promote”. We will be able to see off wings, moon bounced sun (2024), “a photograph by the Ontario artist Lisa Hirmer which gives pride of place to moths, important pollinators whose activity decreases in the presence of light pollution.” Poirier adds that “several works in this exhibition focus on the sensory experience of darkness. The central element of the work of Carl Trahan is a fragrance inspired by the fall of dusk, while in the video ofOlivia Boudreau, The Darkness (2018), we follow a person who calmly finds his way in a dark forest, other than by sight. ” Also featuring works byAnna Jane McIntyre, of Diane Obomsawin, of Corinne Silva And of D’Arcy Wilson.
Grantham Foundation. Until November 3.
Children need to hear another story
Best known for her often poetic work as a filmmaker and documentarian — she has made 56 films —, Alanis Obomsawin was also an activist, singer and performer of indigenous legends and tales. This pioneering Abenaki artist, who celebrated her 92nd birthday on August 31, is entitled to a well-deserved retrospective at the Musée d’art contemporain (MAC), which allows us to see a body of work developed since the 1960s.
Alanis Obomsawin: Children need to hear another story is an exhibition produced thanks to numerous partners, including the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, the Vancouver Art Gallery, CBC/Radio-Canada, the National Film Board of Canada, etc. Curators: Richard Hill And Hila Pelegas well as for the MAC, Lesley Johnstone And Marjoram Labelle.
Museum of Contemporary Art. From September 26 to January 26.
Exiled in Eden
His solo at the Phi Foundation in the summer of 2023 was very well received, as was his Pantocrator Chapel at the Art Gallery of Toronto (AGO) in 2021. Moridja Kitenge Banza will present Exiled in Eden at the Musée d’art de Joliette (MAJ) this fall, an exhibition related to the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy: “For each chapel I design, I refer to an existing chapel imagined by an artist. In the case of Giotto, I reinterpret the panels of the Vices and Virtueslocated in the lower part of the nave. My proposal offers a metaphor for the Congolese colonial period. Through these installations, my intention is to always establish a link between history, art history and contemporary narratives. » Curator: Julie Alary Lavallee.
Still at the MAJ, we present Honey of timethe duo’s first museum solo Wendt + Dufauxwho, since 2017, has developed an original multifaceted work. Curator: Marianne Cloutier.
Joliette Art Museum. From October 5 to January 12.
Oma-I
She represented France at the Venice Biennale in 2018. Laure Prouvost will be honored at the Phi Foundation with Oma-I“the largest exhibition in North America of the French artist.” An exhibition that will reformulate the one she mounted at the Remai Modern, in Saskatoon, in 2023. Prouvost will discuss her connections “with her family, friends and their loved ones, as well as the thinkers, activists, personalities and artistic predecessors who inspired her.” Among other things, we will see Here Her Heart Hovers (2023) who talks about his grandmother. But Prouvot also refers to Hélène Cixous, Hilma af Klint, Liz Magor, Carolee Schneemann, Agnès Varda… Guest curator: Aileen Burns.
Phi. Du Foundation 1er November to March 9.
Without forgetting…
Michaelle Sergile, To all those women who were not named“a tribute to the experiences of black women from the 1870s to 1910s in Montreal.” McCord Stewart Museum, until January 12.
Exploration in the memory of Boreal Art/Nature. The artist Richard Purdy “takes a look at the archives of nine major artistic expeditions organized by Boréal Art/Nature, an artist-run center located in the Hautes-Laurentides from 1988 to 2013.” Musée d’art contemporain des Laurentides, from October 15.
Nadia MyreRobert Myre and Molinari. An “unprecedented project”, for which Nadia Myre carried out “research on the historical, social and cultural context in which his father Robert Myre (1942-2020), printer, trade union educator and social and political activist, worked”. Guido Molinari Foundation, from October 31.
The Canadian architect Arthur Erickson (1924-2009) will be featured at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA). Starting November 14. Also at the CCA, note that the highly anticipated 2e part of the trilogy On the ground will begin on December 10, with an exploration of the work of the bplus.xyz (b+) studio which set up “a political laboratory, HouseEurope.eu”.
Anri Sala, Ravel Ravel Intervalan immersive video installation featuring Maurice Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand in D major, composed for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm. Sala looks back on his work from the 2013 Venice Biennale. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, November 29 to April 27.