Art Matters keeps it moving
Art Matters is right on track with a second week of jam-packed crowds brought together over Concordia undergraduate artists. With three vernissages bookended by on-campus talks, Art Matters picks up speed once again in the second week of its seventeenth year.
TOUT INCLUS at Galerie Espace
Artist Hélène Salamanca and her painting. Photo by Laura Mongollón
While snow-plows zoomed by outside, Galerie Espace offered fruit punch and a sandy escape to followers of the festival. Co-curator and 4th-year Print Media student Camille-Zoé Synnott-Valcourt says curating with Art Matters is as challenging as rewarding. One of the most exciting aspects is building trust with other students.
TOUT INCLUS runs until March 20 at Galerie Espace (4844 boul St-Laurent).
If they trust you, artists will really want and value your opinion on different decisions they have to make.
– Camille-Zoé Synnott-Valcourt, curator.
Ce qu'il en reste and Things Repeated at Eastern Bloc
Burcu Emeç performing. Photo by Laura Mongollón
Those fumbling onward through the record-breaking snowfall to Eastern Bloc last Tuesday may have expected a small crowd, but an electric double-vernissage punctuated by diverse performances proved otherwise.
Ce qu’il en reste’s final performance by 5th-year Theatre student Burcu Emeç closed the night to rapturous applause in a piece bravely addressing abuse, and speaking from the performer’s own cultural perspective.
Ce qu’il en reste and Things Repeated run until March 24 at Eastern Bloc (7240 rue Jean-Talon West).
I really believe that we have to talk about sexual violence, abuse, and mental health – they are community issues, public issues, that concern all of us. We have to be able to speak honestly in art, in hopes that it can break out into everyday lives and communities.
– Theatre student Burcu Emeç
UNTITLED at VAV Gallery
UNTITLED panel. Photo by Laura Mongollón
To launch Art Matters’ exhibition at Concordia’s VAV Gallery, an exhibition devoted to representing the works of undergraduate artists of colour, curator Soukayna arranged an opening round-table at which all artists appeared in addition to guest speakers.
“For Art Matters to do a BIPOC-only show, that changes things,” said one panelist, artist tala e.
While the panel agreed student organizations like Art Matters have a way to go in addressing the nuances of racism, they also agreed UNTITLED was taking an exciting step in the right direction.
UNTITLED runs until March 24 at the VAV Gallery (1395 boul. Rene-Levesque West)
Representation leads to diversity. Diversity doesn’t necessarily lead to representation.
– Guest speaker Anthony Mclachlan, Concordia Black Studies Collective
Risque d'échec at Mainline Gallery
Ariane Larocque-Patineaude performing as gallery-goers move about. Photo by Laura Mongollón
With a large glass front facing the hub of St-Laurent, the Mainline Gallery brings in strangers to the festival by the minute. Some were especially accommodated by Ariane Larocque-Patineaude’s ongoing performance, making way for onlookers by rearranging a grid of bricks on the gallery’s floor. Featuring sculptures, performance art, dance, live music, and theatre alike, the student curators behind Risque d'échec sought extra room for under-represented departments in Art Matters.
Featured Contemporary Dance student Aliah Schwartz credits the larger presence of dance in this year’s festival to coordinators and curators spreading buzz at events like the dance department’s monthly cabaret, Studio 7.
Risque d’échec ran March 7-March 19 at Mainline Gallery (3905 boul. St-Laurent)
I think it’s been a matter of accessibility in knowing there’s a place for performers in Art Matters.
– Dance student Aliah Schwartz
Catch Art Matters while it lasts. Parties, vernissages, and ongoing exhibitions await across Montreal. To keep up us, follow the festival on Instagram (@artmattersfestival) or on Facebook. Check out upcoming events and exhibitions online at www.artmattersfestival.org
