Motion. Montreal/Geneva

Myriam Laplante, Ricochet, 2014, video still

Motion. Montreal/Geneva

Curators: La Fabrique d’expositions, Montreal, and LiveInYourHead, HEAD – Geneva

March 2 to April 9, 2016
Opening: Tuesday, March 1, 5:30 pm

Exhibition produced in collaboration with Head – Geneva, Switzerland

[More information]

[More information] Motion. Montreal/Geneva is the first visual arts encounter between Montreal and Geneva. For the occasion, the Fabrique d’expositions and LiveInYourHead, the HEAD Curatorial Institute, Geneva created a video compilation of works by 11 Montreal artists and 12 Swiss and international artists associated with HEAD (Geneva University of Art and Design). Their works share a common theme: motion, as movement or proposition. Several of the Motion artists and curator/critic Yann Chatigné, chair of the Visual Arts department at HEAD – Geneva, will be at the opening on March 1.

The exhibition

The Motion project was born of a conversation between two institutions devoted to art education and dissemination: the Galerie de l'UQAM in Montreal and HEAD – Geneva. To start off this exchange, the Montreal collective of curators at La Fabrique d'expositions selected videos by Quebec artists inspired by the concept of motion. The double meaning of the word encompasses a duality between action and proposition, between what engenders movement and what prompts the adoption of a position. The encounter of these works produces a variety of performative, aesthetic, political and sociological points of view, reflecting what currently activates and motivates the thoughts of the artist as an actor in the world.

In response to the Montreal proposal, HEAD – Geneva is presenting a selection of videos from its project Performance Proletarians. In October 2014, under the leadership of Lili Reynaud Dewar and Benjamin Valenza, a group of artists and students transformed an arts centre into a space for the production of performances that were not open to the public. The creators became their own public, connected to Internet users scattered around the world and absorbed by the contemplation of this continuous flow of performance viewed through the lens of their cinematography. For Motion, Yann Chateigné plunges us into twelve sequences from the intense productions of this active, vital community.

In conjunction with Motion, the Cinémathèque québécoise is also presenting the first projection on this side of the Atlantic of L’Exposition d’un Film / The Exhibition of a Film (2014) by Mathieu Copeland, a singular cinematic experience in which 46 major artists – choreographers, performers, musicians, writers or visual artists – were invited to participate in the creation of a work that is equally an exhibited film, the film of an exhibition and a filmed exhibition.

The dialogue will continue this May with a new stage of Motion presented at HEAD – Geneva (opening May 19, 2016).

The Artists

Jean-Pierre Aubé, Patrick Bernatchez, BGL, Caroline Boileau, Michel de Broin, Pascal Grandmaison, Nelson Henricks, Myriam Laplante, Eduardo Menz, Nadia Myre, Chih-Chien Wang/Hugo Canoilas, Matthis Collins, Verena Dengler, Christian Falsnaes, Hadley + Maxwell, Lauren Huret & Camille Dumond, Nastasia Meyrat, Lou Masduraud & Antoine Bellini, Lea Meier, Guillaume Pilet, Lili Reynaud Dewar, Benjamin Valenza

L’Exposition d’un Film

On April 7, 16 and 28, 2016, at 7 p.m., the Cinémathèque québécoise will present L’Exposition d’un Film, a project by Mathieu Copeland (2014, 100 min.) produced by HEAD – Geneva with the support of  HES-SO. Mathieu Copeland will be present at the first screening, on April 7.

With the participation of Mac Adams, Fia Backström, Robert Barry, Erica Baum, Stuart Brisley, Jonathan Burrows, Nick Cave, David Cunningham, Philippe Decrauzat, Peter Downsbrough, Maria Eichhorn, F.M. Einheit, Tim Etchells, Alexandre Estrela, John Giorno, Sam Gleaves, Kenneth Goldsmith, Myriam Gourfink, Karl Holmqvist, Marie-Caroline Hominal, Myriam Lefkowitz, Franck Leibovici, Benoît Maire, Charles De Meaux, Karen Mirza & Brad Butler, Ieva Miseviit, Meredith Monk, Charlotte Moth, Phill Niblock, Deborah Pearson, Vanessa Place, Michael Portnoy, Lee Ranaldo, Lætitia Sadier, Laurent Schmid, Leah Singer, Mieko Shiomi, Susan Stenger, Sofia Diaz + Vítor Roriz, Kasper T. Toeplitz, Daniel Turner, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Alan Vega, and Lawrence Weiner.

The curators

Created in 2009 by Jean-Pierre Greff, Director of HEAD – Geneva, LiveInYourHead is an exhibition program, a venue for curatorial experimentation, and a working and living space for artists and students. Its activities are based on an intense program of guests from various fields – artists, curators, critics, designers, filmmakers, and musicians – invited to carry out a specific project, with the sole constraint that it be conceived and produced in collaboration with a group of students. These "curatorial objects" regularly provide an opportunity for cooperation and exchange with partners, including recent collaborations with the CCA Wattis Institute in San Franscisco, the Artsonje Art Center in Seoul, and Kunstverein in Amsterdam. The LiveInYourHead program is run by Yann Chateigné.

Performance Proletarians is a proposal by Lili Reynaud Dewar and Benjamin Valenza. Produced by: HEAD – Geneva and EBABX. Lili Reynaud Dewar is a teacher in the HEAD – Geneva, Work. Master program. Contemporary artistic practices.

La Fabrique d’expositions is a collective of Montreal curators committed to realising projects in a spirit of collegiality in partnership with various exhibitors. They periodically are involved in major cultural events in Canada and abroad, while also developing new initiatives for disseminating the most current artistic forms. Their most recent project, Videozoom. L’entre-images, has been presented in 12 cities in Canada and abroad. Its members have been working together for several years, encouraging the pooling and brewing of ideas. The collective is comprised of three curators: Julie Bélisle, Louise Déry and Audrey Genois.

Educational opportunity
Guided tours of the exhibition
Offered at all times. Reservations required: Christine Lenoir, 514 987-6150 or galerie@uqam.ca

Support


Motion is produced by the Galerie de l'UQAM, Montreal, in collaboration with HEAD – Geneva


Performance Proletarians is a proposal by Lili Reynaud Dewar and Benjamin Valenza, and a production of HEAD – Geneva and the École des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux.