Art in Montreal

  Curated by Louise Déry and Marie-Hélène Leblanc , the new group show at Galerie de l’UQAM , Faux plis par hypothèses , proposes to look at the biases of various models of knowledge and “how a university gallery engages in crucial issues that often concern several research sectors: questions of languages and identities, terrestrials and territories, structures and institutions.” Preface Spread over five galleries across the province (Galerie UQO, Galerie de l’UQAM, Galerie l’Œuvre de l’Autre, Jardins de Métis, and Galerie d’art Foreman), the exhibitions collectively contain the works of more than a dozen artists: Eruoma Awashish, Geneviève Chevalier, Club de prospection figurée, Anna Binta Diallo, Caroline Fillion, Maryse Goudreau, Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens, Sophie Jodoin, Emmanuelle Léonard, Mélanie Myers, Kosisochukwu Nnebe, Anahita Norouzi, and Leila Zelli. I only attended the installment at UQAM so my comments will be limited to that and the catalogue. The selec...

Last week, I discussed Delphine Huguet’s Les corps complexes at Projet Casa. Part of a feminist biennial, it thematically and structurally foregrounded censorship (or redaction) and confession as forms of created selfhood. This was given an additional (apparently unintentionally comic) dimension since the body of this presented self was depicted as a kind of (extremely familiar) alien object/commodity. These two aspects functioned together to create a mirage of performative depth (largely three-dimensional or durational work in a quasi-domestic space). This was doubled by a makeshift confessional where the participatory “confessions” would be redacted, the exhibitionistic display of their self-censorship an ironic recognition that the self is censorship. Visually this was conveyed by black blots and squares over words. The black square was even applied to an exit sign. Whether intended or not, this had the symbolic suggestion that the self, that repressive and obfuscatory function, b...