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Le Polygraphe at Les Territoires, Montréal

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Daisuke Yokota, Untitled, from the series site/cloud, 2013. ©Daisuke Yokota, Courtesy of G/P gallery

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Le Polygraphe

2 – 26 September 2015
Les Territoires, Montréal

Artists: Daisuke Yokota (Japan), Hajra Waheed (Canada), Paulien Barbas (Netherlands)

Curated by Safia Belmenouar (France) and Myrabelle Charlebois (Canada).

The exhibition Le Polygraphe explores the aesthetic perceptions generated when an isolated photograph or preexisting matrix of images are inserted into a new set of narrative. Deliberate technical errors, vernacular productions, recycled images are finding a place in, and redefining art, thanks to the artists who gather, consult, and manipulate them as available objects. Continue reading “Le Polygraphe at Les Territoires, Montréal”

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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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DRONE: The Automated Image – Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal 13

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Trevor Paglen, Reaper Drone: Indian Springs, NV; Distance – 2 miles, 2010. Courtesy of the artist; Metro Pictures, New York; Altman Siegel, San Francisco; and Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne

DRONE: The Automated Image
Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal 13
5 September – 5 October 2013
25 exhibitions in 14 sites across Montréal

Guest curator: Paul Wombell

International photography biennale “Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal” opens its 13th edition on 5 September through to 5 October, to present 25 local, national and international artists on 14 different sites across the city, under the theme of “DRONE: The Automated Image”.

This year’s guest curator Paul Wombell developed this theme by focusing on the materiality of the camera and its changing relationships with human operators, to trace the evolving shapes and characteristics of the camera over the past 40 years which is nowadays adapting more to the advent of drone and other machine behaviours. The artists herein explore human co-authorships with advancing imaging technology, how to creatively deal with intelligent cameras and their transformation into systems that may one day literally capture the imagination. Continue reading “DRONE: The Automated Image – Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal 13”

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Opportunities: Call for Guest Curator Proposals for the 14th edition of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal in 2015

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Claire Savoie, Aujourd’hui (dates-vidéos), 2006–2011. Installation view, at SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal 2011. Courtesy the artist, SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal

Call for Guest Curator Proposals

Deadline for preliminary proposal: Thursday 28 February 2013

Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal is seeking the guest curator and theme for the 14th edition of its international biennale of contemporary photography that will take place in September 2015. The organization is soliciting brief, preliminary proposals (one page) from which a short list of candidates will be asked to submit more detailed dossiers.
Continue reading “Opportunities: Call for Guest Curator Proposals for the 14th edition of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal in 2015”

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Interview: Rinko Kawauchi – Capturing moments in a constant present


“Untitled” (2009) from the series “Illuminance”. Courtesy of the artist © Rinko Kawauchi

Rinko Kawauchi (b. Shiga, Japan, 1972) was one of 25 artists showing at Le Mois de la Photo in Montreal in September 2011, this year themed around Lucidity – Inward Views. Kawauchi is renowned for the glowing translucence of her photography, often taken in soft focus and subtly tinted colours to draw us in a state of waking dream.

From a corner of the vast opening reception, Kawauchi stood aloof with her tripod and camera, documenting curious and mesmerised audiences as they were feasting on her first exhibition in Montréal. Guest curator Anne-Marie Ninacs temporarily partitioned the “Arsenal”, Le Mois de la Photo’s main venue, to provide a separate room for each of the eight artists showing in its grand hall. Ninacs designed every artist space differently, and for Kawauchi she fashioned a small cornering area so people could experience her work more intimately. “It is just about the size of my darkroom” explained the Japanese photographer, on how she found it comfortable and familiar.
Continue reading “Interview: Rinko Kawauchi – Capturing moments in a constant present”

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Interview: Anne-Marie Ninacs, guest curator for the 12th Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal


Photo: Pierre Blache

Anne-Marie Ninacs is an independent researcher and curator, she was invited as guest curator for the 12th edition of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, one of the city’s most prestigious international visual art events. She brought together works by 25 artists worldwide under “Lucidity”, a theme very dear to her…

M-KOS: Anne-Marie Ninacs can you tell us about the process that led to your decision to act as commissioner for Le Mois de la Photo?

Anne-Marie Ninacs: Le Mois de la Photo usually proceeds with open submissions, from this I proposed a concept to the event director that I would be interested in pursuing for the next event, and which artists I would want to present. Things like that. So that’s what I did, and here I am.

M: And have you worked a lot with photography before this event? Is it part of a broader concern?

AMN: No, actually I’m not an expert in photography. I’ve always resisted to be a single discipline specialist, I was never interested to look at things from a disciplinary angle. To take on the role of curator of photography was something very new, and I think it’s beneficial for an event specializing in photography to be organized by people who are not coming in with fixed preconceptions or an informed vision. I do personally like this non-specialist position, that’s where we become most interesting, most alive, and I always try to put myself out of my comfort zone. This allowed me to learn a lot about photography, I think it also allowed me to provide other perspectives, to see photography in works that are not considered as such, as in the work of Douglas Gordon for example, or to bring forth propositions that may be more esthetic, or very sensitive to the visual aspect of works, such as the tinkerings of Augustin Rebetez, or even with Roger Ballen who is trained as a photographer but does offer a different perspective.
Continue reading “Interview: Anne-Marie Ninacs, guest curator for the 12th Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal”

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Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal

The 12th edition of “Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal”
Lucidity – Inward Views
8 September – 9 October 2011
moisdelaphoto.com


Already at its 12th edition, “Le Mois de la Photo à Montreal” is opening its doors to the general public from 8 September until 9 October, and this time around a total of 14 different venues across the city will host the event. Over the last two decades, this international biennale has explored the issues of the photographic image in contemporary art as well as in wider contexts, and how these have transformed today’s socio-cultural climate. This year guest curator Anne-Marie Ninacs has invited 25 artists from all over the world, to contribute to the theme of Lucidity – Inward Views.

The theme underlines photography’s ability, in the hands of many artists, to address complex geopolitical situations and confront painful human drama squarely in its face. Nevertheless, Ninacs pushes forward in her curatorial statement, urge us more than ever to examine, as a society, the forces interacting at the root of these phenomena. In unfolding the many-layered vectors of conflict, the hope consist in attaining a measured inner clarity, a “transparence of mind,” which is the present-day psychological equivalent of lucidity. Continue reading “Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal”