Dissident Art, Montreal
Posted September 4, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
This just in from friends in Montreal:
DISSIDENT ART
September 5 - 28, 2008
Opening: Friday, Sept. 5, 5 - 9 PM
55 Notre-Dame West (Metro Place D'Armes)
Diana Arce, Mathieu Beauséjour, Caro Caron, Howard Chackowicz, Kathryn
Delaney, Ronen Eidelman, Freda Guttman, Gord Hill, Dayna McLeod, Jesse
Purcell, Michael Rakowitz, The Shining Mantis, Jackie Sumell / Herman
Wallace, Rick Trembles, Tania Willard
The Art + Anarchy Montreal 2008 collective is pleased to invite you to the
opening of a new exhibition in Montreal, Dissident Art, on September 5th
from 5 pm - 9 pm at 55 Notre-Dame West (in Old Montreal, metro Place
d'Armes). The vernissage will feature performances by Diana Arce (Berlin),
showcasing her political speech karaoke Politaoke in Montreal for this first
time, and The Shining Mantis (New York), engaging in a spontanteous
chalk-on-black-wall drawing war between the collective's two members.
Returning after the success of the Art + Anarchy exhibition in 2007, which
saw 230 local and international artists exhibit their work, this year's
exhibition represents a more curated turn with fifteen artists. From Caro
Caron's (Montreal) excellent artistic musings on the gentrification of
Montreal's artist neighbourhoods to the pairing up of artist Jackie Sumell
(Brooklyn) and Herman Wallace, a Black Panther member whose life sentence is
currently up for review, the exhibition offers variety in concept, style and
contribution to the meaning of dissidence in art. In addition to the fifteen
chosen artists, the exhibition will be offering a room in which unsolicited
artists are invited to come hang their own political work.
Schedule:
friday, september 5, 5 - 9pm: Vernissage
Featuring performances by Diana Arce and The Shining Mantis
wednesday, september 10, 7 - 9pm: David Widgington on Ink on Paper on Poles
Montrealer David Widgington - author of the 2007 publication Picture This!, founder of the renowned yet now defunct Cumulus Press and member of the activist filmmaking collective Les Lucioles - joins guests in a discussion of the history of the poster as both political tool - ideal for its rapid, efficient and powerful dissemination of information - and visual culture object, artifact and evidence of Montreal’s historically rich cultural landscape.
saturday, september 13, 2 - 4pm: The Writing on the Wall with Sterling Downing
Join Under Pressure founder, publisher and spokesperson Sterling Downing for a high colour, in gallery slide show and moderated discussion with Isa Tousignant about the legal ramifications and political quagmire of graffiti in Canada. Where does freedom of expression end?
thursday, september 18, 7 - 9pm: Radical Cinema with Santiago Bertolino
This two-hour event will be a screening of short films followed by a discussion period with the filmmaker Santiago Bertolino and guests. Bertolino, who has produced and directed films on current social struggles and was one of the founders of filmmaking collective Les Lucioles, has run the video blog Parole Citizen for the last two years and recently co-founded Funambules Media, a co-operative with a mandate to produce, make and distribute radical films.
thursday, september 25, 7 - 9pm: Puppets as Protest with Mark Sussman
An introduction to the community-based approach of Great Small Works and to the creation of political and socially-minded performances that animate public space, while renewing the spirits of participants and audiences alike, and promoting participation in public life. Mark Sussman is a theatre artist, scholar and co-founder of New York’s celebrated Great Small Works collective, producing giant community-based puppet shows, and miniature toy theatre spectacles.
sunday, september 28, 12 - 8pm: Closing Reception
Featuring Dayna Mcleod’s performance HotBeaverWetPussy.com from 2-6pm
From the website:
In today’s highly charged political, economic, corporate and environmental climate, it is natural that there exist a variety of viewpoints on the world and its future. Quebec is a national cradle of revolutionary thought, especially in art (think of the Refus Global!), so it’s no surprise that every year, Montreal houses the largest anarchist event in North America: the Festival of Anarchy, which includes the renowned Anarchist Book Fair.s groundbreaking exhibition by giving activist artists a space to be seen and heard.The volunteer founding committee of Art + Anarchy Montreal was created in an effort to expand the presence of socially and politically engaged artwork within the Festival of Anarchy and the city, and to develop a yearly artistic event that would promote and encourage creators who crave change, propose fresh perspectives and tackle issues in their art. These issues run the gamut: gender equality, cultural policy, world politics, environmental strategies, basic human rights.
The first Art + Anarchy Montreal exhibition took place in a gargantuan loft in Park Extension for two weeks in May 2007, and presented the art of 230 local and international artists. Galvanized by its success, a new committee was formed to organize the 2008 edition, titled Dissident Art.
Our space is different this year – smaller and more central, located a few steps away from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Old Montreal – but representative of our basic belief that to remain as independent as possible from systemic assumptions, one must be located, physically, outside the system; in this case Montreal’s existing gallery network. Our artist selection is a fraction of last year’s, quantatively speaking, but perhaps more poignant qualitatively as well. The 15 artists we’ve invited hail from the four corners of the globe and span the breadth of the ideological spectrum. Essential to the exhibition is also the free wall, a section of the exhibition where unsolicited artists from near and far are invited to post their political art for the duration of the exhibition.
For the entire month of September, from the 5th to the 28th, we wish to transform 55 Notre-Dame West (an ex-currency exchange office) into a place of inspiration thanks to incredible art and weekly activities, covering everything from puppetry for public protest to the legal ramifications of graffiti, activist documentary making and the art of radical postering. Help us fill a void with thi
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