Alexia Fabre, the Director and Chief Curator of MAC VAL (Musée d’art contemporain du Val de Marne in France), has been chosen to pilot the 8th edition of the biennial, which will be held in the winter of 2017.
The Art of Joy, in tune with current international trends, is this edition's theme. The title of a work by Goliarda Sapienza, The Art of Joy is a coming-of-age novel whose heroine makes happiness and self-discovery her sole mission in life. This highly charged and open-ended theme will allow the event to explore the notion of joy not in pure illustrations of the concept, but rather in the expression of its multiple facets. Through existing or new works, it will pursue and ponder this search for a specific relationship with the world, past and present, and everything underpinning it. What will result is a tension between joy and its opposite, between its radiant side and its reverse, darker side.
THE ULTIMATE GATHERING OF 17 INTERNATIONAL, CANADIAN AND QUÉBEC ARTISTS AT THE MNBAQ
FOR THE 8TH QUÉBEC CITY BIENNIAL
AElab
Collective founded in 1996. Based in Montréal, Canada.
Ælab was launched as an artistic research unit centred on a philosophical exchange between artists Gisèle Trudel and Stéphane Claude, with the regular participation of other collaborators. Their work is regularly presented on the international art scene. Gisèle Trudel also teaches at the École des arts visuels et médiatiques de l’Université du Québec à Montréal and is the co-founder of Grupmuv, a research-creation lab focusing on drawing and the moving image in contemporary art practices. Stéphane Claude is a composer of electronic and acoustic music and a sound engineer. He is in charge of research in the audio sector at the OBORO artists’ centre.
Pilar Albarracín
Born in Seville, Spain. Lives and works in both Madrid and Seville, Spain.
Pilar Albarracín trained at the University of Seville. Her work has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions the world over, in particular in Spain, France, Argentina, the United States and Japan. She has also participated in several group exhibitions and international artistic events, including the Venice Biennale (2005), the Biennale d’art et de culture de São Tomé et Principe (2008) and the Busan Biennale (2014). Her works are found in private and public collections, including those of the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris in France, and the Castile-León Museum of Contemporary Art and the Málaga Centre of Contemporary Art in Spain. The artist is represented by GP&N Vallois gallery.
Carlos Amorales
Born in Mexico City, Mexico. Works and lives in Mexico City, Mexico.
Carlos Amorales studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academy and Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten. His work has generated several solo and group exhibitions around the world. He has also been part of international artistic events such as the Shanghai Biennial (2015), La Habana (2009 and 2015), Manifesta 9 (2012), Performa (2007) and the Venice Biennale (2003). His work graces numerous collections, in particular, those of the Tate Modern (London), the Guggenheim (New York City) and the Daros Latinamerica (Zurich) museums. The artist is represented by Kurimanzutto Gallery (Mexico City).
BGL
Collective founded in 1996. Based in Québec City, Canada.
In the mid-1990s, while studying visual arts at Université Laval, Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière formed BGL. Since then, their work has been in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad. BGL has also participated in several prestigious artistic events, particularly, the Venice Biennale in 2015. Their work is collected by the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, among others. The group is represented by Parisian Laundry (Montréal), Diaz Contemporary (Toronto) and Galerie 3 (Québec City).
Christian Boltanski
Born in 1944 in Paris, France. Works and lives in Malakoff, France.
Christian Boltanski is a major artist on the contemporary international stage. Several large institutions have devoted monographic exhibitions to him, notably, the Grand Palais for MONUMENTA (2010) and the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris (1998). Boltanski has also been part of several artistic and biennial events around the world, such as Documenta (1972 and 1987) and the Venice Biennale (1986, 2011 and 2015). The artist has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Praemium Imperiale in 2008, and his work figures among major international collections such as those of the Museum of Modern Art (New York City), the Tate Modern (London) and Centre Pompidou (Paris).
Jacynthe Carrier and L’Orchestre d’hommes-orchestres (LODHO)
J. C. was born in Lévis, Canada. She works and lives in Québec City, Canada. LODHO was founded in 2002. The collective is based in Québec City, Canada.
Jacynthe Carrier has a Master’s degree from Concordia University. She has had solo and group exhibitions in Québec and elsewhere in Canada. Her work is part of the collections of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Carrier is represented by Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran (Montréal).
L’orchestre d’hommes-orchestres is an artists’ collective whose core consists of Bruno Bouchard, Gabrielle Bouthillier, Jasmin Cloutier, Simon Drouin, Simon Elmaleh and Danya Ortmann. LODHO has had more than ten productions on stage or in public places. The collective has also given more than 400 performances in some fifteen countries in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. It was awarded the City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize in 2013 and the Prix Ville de Québec in 2015.
Clément Cogitore
Born in Colmar, France. Lives and works in Paris and Strasbourg, France.
Clément Cogitore graduated from École supérieure des arts décoratifs de Strasbourg and Fresnoy-Studio national des arts contemporains. He has had several solo exhibitions, notably at the Palais de Tokyo (2016) and the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg (2014). His films were shortlisted at numerous international festivals and rewarded many times. In 2015, he took home the Prix de la Fondation Gan pour le Cinéma at the Cannes Festival for his first feature-length film entitled Ni le ciel, ni la terre and was a contender for the César for the best debut film. Cogitore is represented by Galerie Eva Hober (Paris) and Galerie Reinhard Hauff (Stuttgart).
Robbin Deyo
Born in Burnaby, Canada. Lives and works in Montréal, Canada.
Robbin Deyo has a Bachelor’s degree from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design as well as a Master’s from Concordia University. Her work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, France and Italy. The artist has also done public art in Montréal and Edmonton. Her work is found in several private and public collections, including the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec’s Art Loan Collection and the Art Omi Foundation Collection (New York City). The artist is represented by the Paul Kuhn Gallery (Calgary).
Cynthia Dinan-Mitchell
Born in Québec City, Canada. Lives and works in Québec City, Canada.
Cynthia Dinan-Mitchell détient un baccalauréat de l’Université Concordia et une maîtrise en arts vishas a Bachelor’s degree from Concordia University and a Master’s degree in visual arts from Université Laval. She has had solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad, notably, at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Musée de Belém and the Cupar Art Festival in Scotland. Dinan-Mitchell has received numerous grants and distinctions, including the Videre-Relève prize and Plein Sud in 2011. Her work is found in the collections of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the City of Montréal and the Bibliothèque et Archives nationals, among others. She is represented by Galerie D’Este (Montréal).
Coco Guzman
Born in Murcia, Spain. Lives and works in Toronto, Canada.
Coco Guzman has a Master’s degree in comparative literature from Université de Paris VIII and a Bachelor’s in visual arts from École Supérieure des Beaux-arts de Toulouse. Her work has been displayed in several museums, galleries and artist centres around the world, especially in Canada, the United States, South Korea and Spain. Guzman founded the Pio! Centre for Drawing, in Toronto, and co-founded the Moonfish Collective. The artist has received several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, as well as the Artscape Prize in 2015.
Steve Heimbecker
Born in Biggar, Canada. Lives and works in Sherbrooke, Canada.
Steve Heimbecker studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design. His work has been shown in Canada and internationally. More recently, his work was presented at the Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme (Montréal, 2016), the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2016), Agence TOPO (Montréal, 2016) and the Galerie du CAP (Brest, 2014). He was been awarded numerous prizes and grants for his creations in visual, digital and sound art. His work is part of several collections, including those of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Foothills Hospital Foundation.
Annette Messager
Born in Berck-Sur-Mer, France. Lives and works in Malakoff, France.
Annette Messager studied at École Supérieure des Arts décoratifs in Paris. The work of this major international artist has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions around the world. She has also participated in many international artistic events such as Documenta (1977 and 2002) and the Venice Biennale (1980, 2003 and 2005), where she won the Golden Lion in 2005. Awarded numerous prizes, she brought home the prestigious Praemium Imperiale in 2016. Her work is found in several collections, including those of the Guggenheim Museum (New York City) and the Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne. The artist is represented by the Marian Goodman Gallery (New York City, Paris and London).
Pierre&Marie
Collective founded in 2008. Based in Québec City.
The collective Pierre&Marie consists of artists Marie-Pier Lebeau and Pierre Brassard. Both studied cabinet-making before turning towards the visual arts. Their work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Québec and Europe and is found in several private collections as well as in public ones such as those of the City of Montréal and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.
Vicky Sabourin
Born in Montréal, Canada. Lives and works in Montréal, Canada.
Vicky Sabourin studied at École supérieure des beaux-arts de Marseille before completing a Bachelor’s degree in visual arts at Université Laval and a Master’s at Concordia University. She has had several solo exhibitions, in particular, at Circa (2013), the Struts Gallery (2015) and Hamilton Artist Inc. (2016). Sabourin’s work has also figured in group exhibitions in Canada, Portugal and France, and the artist has also had performances in Québec and the United States.
*Morgane Tschiember
Born in Brest, France. Lives and works in Paris.
Morgane Tschiember has a degree from École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris. She has had several solo exhibitions almost everywhere in the world, notably, in the United States, France, Italy and Japan. More recently, her work was presented at Tracy Williams Ltd (2015), the Musée des beaux-arts de Dole (2015) and Galerie Rolando Anselmi (2015). Her work is found in numerous private and public collections, including those of the Design Center of the Americas and of the Musée des beaux-arts de Brest. The artist is represented by Galerie Lovenbruck (Paris).
Mathieu Valade
Born in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Canada. Lives and works in Chicoutimi, Canada.
Mathieu Valade has a Bachelor’s degree from Université du Québec à Montréal and a Master’s from Université Laval. His work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions, notably, in Canada, Brazil, France and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The artist has also produced public art in various cities in Québec. Valade’s work is found in several private and public collections, including those of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and of the Musée d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul. The artist is represented by Galerie 3 (Québec).
Jean-Luc Verna
Born in Nice, France. Lives and works in Paris, France.
Jean-Luc Verna has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, in particular in France, the United States and Spain. In 2016, the Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC VAL) devoted a retrospective exhibition to him to highlight his career spanning more than 25 years. Moreover, he performs for several choreographers, sings in a rock group and teaches drawing at the Villa Arson in Nice. His works are found in private and public collections the world over, including those of the MAC VAL, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Centre Pompidou, and the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Give us your feedback