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Thomas Kneubühler “Dark Matter” at Patrick Mikhail Gallery, RIDM Headquaters & Galerie B-312, Montréal

©Thomas Kneubühler


THOMAS KNEUBÜHLER
DARK MATTER

11 NOVEMBER – 19 DECEMBER 2015
(Vernissage: 12 November 2015, 17.00 – 20.00)
PATRICK MIKHAIL GALLERY

12 – 22 NOVEMBER 2015
(Vernissage: 13 November 2015, 17.00 – 19.00)
RIDM HEADQUARTERS

19 NOVEMBER – 19 DECEMBER 2015
(Vernissage: 19 November 2015, 17.30)
GALERIE B-312

 

Dark Matter is a three part exhibition by Thomas Kneubühler, a Swiss artist based in Montréal, presented at different venues across Montréal – Patrick Mikhail Gallery, RIDM Headquaters and Galerie B-312. Dark Matter unites Days in Night and Land Claim, two of Kneubühler’s recent projects. Produced as the result of an artist residency at CFS Alert, a military and research station in the high Arctic located 800 km from the North Pole, Days in Night examines the phenomenon of 24 hour-long polar nights, an experience of living in the dark and the limits of how much one can see. (shown at Patrick Mikhail Glalery and RIDM Headquarters) Similarly, Land Claim (shown at Galerie B-312) investigates mining conditions in Northern Quebec, a highly controlled territory hidden from the public eye and its connection to global markets. Thomas Kneubühler is interviewed below about his upcoming exhibition series, by fellow artist Andreas Rutkauskas Continue reading “Thomas Kneubühler “Dark Matter” at Patrick Mikhail Gallery, RIDM Headquaters & Galerie B-312, Montréal”

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Interview with Becca Pelly-Fry, director of Griffin Gallery, London

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Becca Pelly-Fry. Courtesy Griffin Gallery, London

Becca Pelly-Fry is the director and curator of Griffin Gallery in West London, located in the same building as its parent organisation ColArt International, the company for world renowned art materials brands including Winsor & Newton, Liquitex and Conté à Paris. Since her appointment in 2013, Pelly-Fry has increased Griffin Gallery’s focus on ‘materiality in contemporary art’ and create a space for dialogues through innovative exhibitions and events. In our interview, Pelly-Fry talks about her vision and the gallery’s ongoing commitment to support local, national and international emerging talent.

MKOS: Can you tell us more about the history and mandate of the gallery and how it operates? Is this really the case that Griffin Gallery is that part of ColArt International, a global organisation for art materials, and runs as a privately funded not-for-profit space?

Becca Pelly-Fry [BPF]: Yes, that’s exactly right. The gallery was established in 2012, with the overarching aim of creating a space for display and discussion of contemporary art, a space for artists and ColArt employees to gather. When I took on the Directorship in early 2013, we spent the first few months establishing a five year strategy and a vision for the gallery. At that point we realised that what was going to set us apart from all other gallery spaces in London was our strong connection to the art materials industry – we therefore decided to focus (mainly) on emerging artists with an interest and engagement with materials, and aim to put ourselves at the centre of an ongoing dialogue about materiality in contemporary art.
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In conversation with Dominique Fontaine, guest curator for Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto 2014

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Yvette Mattern, Global Rainbow, 2009-2014 | Courtesy the artist and Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2014

Dominique Fontaine is an independent curator based in Montreal, and amongst the four guest curators (Fontaine, Denise Markonish, Magda Gonzalez-Mora and Heather Pesanti) organizing this year’s Scotiabank Nuit Blanche in Toronto, kicking off at sunset this 4th October. Fontaine discusses her experience with M-KOS.

MKOS: How did you get involved with this year’s event?

Dominique Fontaine [DF]: A couple of years ago, I was invited to submit a proposal for Nuit Blanche. So, I submitted my proposal to the committee in Toronto who reviewed it and luckily it was accepted for this year’s event. That was a year and a half ago, and since then I’ve been working on the exhibition.

MKOS: Does Nuit Blanche have an overall theme? How did you fit your own curatorial project into this?

DF: Nuit Blanche is simply a celebration of contemporary art. Each curator proposed a project related to the specificity of Nuit Blanche, a 12 hour, overnight event attracting a massive number of Torontonians and outside visitors. My part of Nuit Blanche is entitled “Between the earth and sky, the possibility of everything” but it is not constructed like a traditional thematic exhibition. It’s rather a framework that creates a context for the audience to experience art. Continue reading “In conversation with Dominique Fontaine, guest curator for Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto 2014”

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Gesture in Collecting : In conversation with Donald Browne, art dealer at Papier 14

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Donald Browne Gallery booth at Papier 14. Courtesy Galerie Donald Browne, Montreal

Papier 2014 set up its art fair tent this year on a vacant lot in downtown Montreal, one block away from the city’s centre point at corner of Ste-Catherine and Clark streets. Organised by AGAC (Association des Galleries d’Art Contemporain – The Association of Contemporary Art Galleries), the fair comprises a total of 44 commercial galleries from across Canada, exclusively selling works on paper. Donald Browne has been an exhibitor at Papier with his own gallery since its first edition in 2007, and acted as AGAC’s treasurer and member of the executive council for the past four years. He exchanges a few words with M-KOS about Papier 2014.

MKOS: Have you been participating in Papier since it started?

Donald Browne [DB]: Well, I’ve been a part of organizing the fair since the last four years, but yes I’ve been doing Papier with my gallery since seven years ago, when we were just 18 galleries at Westmount Square. We just had a table and a billboard behind us. It was very simple. But then when we started to get a little more confident, with a little grant from the Quebec government, and now it’s much more feasible to put on an event like this. In 2007 it was a very initial attempt at an art fair in Montreal, and with a snowball effect we finally arrived in a tent like this with 44 galleries. It’s really grown over the last seven years, I really encouraged that we have this kind of event here, it’s important for people, for the social interaction, as well as for people understanding that these things are for sale, and it’s an exciting event to prepare for.
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In all seriousness – Interview with the artist Rachel Shaw

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Rachel Shaw, All Seriousness, 2014. Acrylic on panel. Courtesy the artist and Galerie LOCK, Montreal.

Montreal based artist Rachel Shaw’s solo exhibition is currently on view at Galerie LOCK, showcasing her new series “All Seriousness”: a sequence of sterile, yet comically uplifting interiors. These waiting areas, offices, and living rooms have no visible entrance or exit; only black squares that lead to nowhere. Devoid of human presence, the furniture and objects no longer serve any utilitarian function and instead engage in aesthetic conversations with the viewers. The shadows, angles and intersections are only slightly off, lending to a peculiar unease on the part of the spectator. Caught in a state of in-betweenness, we can’t help but ask: where did everybody go? Shaw discusses her work with Jessica Kirsh.

Jessica Kirsh [JK]: There appears to be a reoccurring trope in your body of work: that of the window or frame. Most often illustrated as a black rectangle, it holds a stark yet mysterious presence within the interior. What signification (conceptually or formally) does this device contain? How is it repurposed or reconfigured from one painting to the next?

Rachel Shaw [RS]: In the diorama – a small-scale model of a real-life scene – a window (or at least the absence of a wall) is often as a point of view or observation. Even the word diorama means ‘through that which is seen’, which I think is pretty appropriate. I don’t use the word diorama to mean scale modeling or miniaturism, but I do use the window as a way to display a certain type of space while also containing it and the objects within it indefinitely. Formally, I think it works as a point of pause and reorientation, like a wall does in a maze, but it does hint at a space outside the one you’re in.
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The remainder of the book and other variable formats – Interview with Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, curator of “Dans Cinquante Ans d’Ici” at Les Territoires, Montréal

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Exhibition view, from left to right: Boris Meister “Above the Cloud – Archeology of Social Networks” (2012), Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso “56 Broken Kindle Screens” (2012), Ruth Beale “Now From Now” (2011), Klaus Scherübel “Mallarmé, The Book” (2004). Copyright Les Territoires, Montreal.

Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk is an independent curator, writer and director of The Office for Curating based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He curated the group show Dans Cinquante Ans d’Ici (50 Years From Now), currently on view at Les Territoires in Montréal (12 March – 19 April 2014). The twelve artists collective exhibition posits the book as art object, container and concept against the backdrop of ongoing discussions addressing the potential demise of the physically bound volume. Lekkerkerk explains in his interview his urge to look into the dynamics of co-existing analog and digital formats within our current media driven society, to raise the key question: “To what extent have the changes in our relationship with information – and the formats we employ for its transmission – altered our rapport to knowledge and its production?”

M-KOS [MKOS]: How did you develop Dans Cinquante Ans d’Ici into a curatorial project?

Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk [NJL]: From a personal perspective, the exhibition Dans Cinquante Ans d’Ici is the culmination of a previous exhibition cycle entitled Reading Complex, which I developed at various locations in London throughout 2012 together with curator Catherine Y. Serrano. At the time we were interested in – generally speaking – further exploring the relations between viewer-reader and image-text in the context of visual art and artistic practice. For instance, we wanted to look into the fact that we, as viewers, make a narrative reading – an ABC reading – of principally every encounter, whereas the visual evidence we “collect” in order to inform this reading is often incongruous and misplaced. We wanted to link this principle, inherent to our (over)stimulating image-culture, to by what means narrative arcs are employed in artistic practice, and how the connecting of the dots is left to the visitor, so to speak.
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Extending human vision: Interview with Paul Wombell, guest curator for Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal 13

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Raphaël Dallaporta, CHESME SHAFA. Balkh Province, Afghanistan. From the Achaemenid period (6th–4th century BC) to the Ghorid period (12th–13th century AD), 2011, from the series Ruins (2011). Detail. Chromogenic print on Dibond, 120x150cm. Courtesy of the artist.
© Raphaël Dallaporta

Paul Wombell is an independent UK based writer and curator of photography. Previously directing two of the UK’s top photography institutions as well as curating many photo festivals in Europe, Wombell was invited as guest curator for the 13th edition of Le Mois de la Photo à  Montreal, the city’s international photography biennale. In this short interview during the opening event, Wombell talked to M-KOS about his motivations to theme this year’s program under “Drone: The Automated Image” so to suggest the camera is imposing its own agency in relation with humans and thus to further question the meaning of being human in the technology age.

MKOS: How did you start the process of curating Le Mois de la Photo?

Paul Wombell [PW]: This started 26 months ago, a long time ago, I put the proposal in to the biennale and I was quite surprised that they accepted it. The premise was the idea of humans using technology to see or to extend human vision. The key concept was the idea of the drone, which was the idea of using a form of technology to see in the distance, partly with all the military issues with the American government and the idea of surveillance. But I took that as a kind of metaphor to look beyond just the drone. Continue reading “Extending human vision: Interview with Paul Wombell, guest curator for Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal 13”

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Kind of like an Accident: Interview with Cory Arcangel

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Cory Arcangel, Power Points, exhibition view. Courtesy the artist and DHC/ART, Montréal. Photo by Vincent Toi

Cory Arcangel is a Brooklyn based artist working in diverse media, including video, music, modified videogames, performances and the Internet. Arcangel often makes use of appropriation as a strategy to draw attention to source materials ranging from best-selling albums, Photoshop gradients and UGG boots. While bridging the gap between the highbrow and lowbrow culture, his work explores the nature of cultural production and consumption in a media and technology saturated world. On the occasion of his solo exhibition at the DHC/ART in Montréal, Arcangel talked to M-KOS about his art, his diverse influences and the role of artists as archivists.

MKOS: You started out as a musician, right? How did you make the transition to visual art?

Cory Arcangel [CA]: Its hard for me to explain, it just happened backwards, when I was in high school I was always making videos and you couldn’t go to art school to make video in 1996, so I went to music school. But I also feel in love with the history of music, so when I got out of school I was composing and I was making videos and I just put my work wherever I thought it would be cool and it’s just the gallery people who kept asking for it. So it happened kind of like an accident.
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Quiet Resistance: An Interview with Yam Lau

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Yam Lau in front of his video installation “Room: An Extension” (2008) at Darling Foundry, Montréal. Photo by Guy L’Heureux

Toronto-based Yam Lau is currently holding a solo exhibition entitled “A World is a Model of the World” curated by Alice Jim, in the main gallery of Darling Foundry in Montréal. Working around his personal dwelling, Lau constructs virtual spaces that integrate layers of live-action videos with computer generated 3D animations to produce illusionistic effects, drifting between real and unreal topologies and existing in a temporality that expands into infinite loops. In the following conversation with M-KOS about his work, Lau expresses a quiet resistance to the art world and finds affiliations to past scholars and thinkers.

MKOS: You are showing two videos here at Darling Foundry: one is called “Room: An Extension” and the other one “Between the Past and the Present: Lived Moments in Beijing”. Are they connected to specific times and spaces?

Yam Lau [YL]: “Room: An Extension” was shot in my old apartment in Toronto in 2008. It was a very particular moment because we had record snowfalls that day, and you can actually see snow on the balcony in the video. So you can trace it back to that particular day. This is actually the second work where I use this technology. The first one called “Room” [2007] was also shot in my apartment. It was more simple but done in the night time – I’m coming back home, changing and going to bed. This one I’m getting up in the morning, opening the blinds and so on. The context of the video itself is not specific. I imagine this is a very abstract space where a natural event keeps recurring.
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Danger awakens the senses: An interview with Michel de Broin

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Michel de Broin at his solo exhibition at Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Anthropométrie, 2013 [wall]; Blowback, 2013. Photo: M-KOS

Montréal based artist Michel de Broin is currently showing his solo exhibition at Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Despite his initial proposal to destroy the entire museum façade being declined, De Broin showcases an engaging selection of re-made works from the past two decades, intertwined with new commissions. Throughout his career, De Broin has questioned the visual systems that control our daily activities by transforming existing or discarded objects into things that often appear absurd, by playfully shifting and subverting our perceptions. From water bottle rockets to gigantic disco balls, his adventurous impersonations of the flawed inventor or engineer further pushes the boundary of what we consider alternative forms of art. De Broin talks to M-KOS about his work and his take on showing within high profile art institutions.

MKOS: Is it true you only had one year to plan this show ?

Michel de Broin [MdB]: Yes, it was a pretty fast turnaround. If I had needed any funding for this show [from the Canadian Art Councils], I would not have had enough time to submit for it. So this is what led me to work with existing pieces, from which I added new works that I wanted to produce. This year I already had a lot of projects underway, so it was a really busy time and when this show was proposed to me, I had the choice to accept or refuse it, opportunities like this happen maybe because there was a cancellation in the programming, and the museum people thought I would surely find a way to work it out.

MKOS: So you took the opportunity.

MdB: Yes, but the thing is, even if I had two years [to organise this show] I don’t think I would have done it better. It was good to do it quickly now because as an artist from Quebec, a solo exhibition at the Museum [of Contemporary Art of Montréal] is almost like the culminating event of your career. But this didn’t happen to me because for the past ten years I wasn’t based in Montréal, I moved around and made a bunch of projects around the world. This opportunity made me see this museum show more as a new cycle. For me it was a time to put together and assess my works, to solidify a few loose ends, produce a catalog, and then leave again.
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