© Bernadette Corporation, Hell Frozen Over (2000), in the context of D’un discours qui ne serait pas du semblant/Actors, Networks, Theories (2014). With the collaboration of Electronic Arts Intermix. Photo : Sara A. Tremblay
D’un discours qui ne serait du semblant/Actors, Networks, Theories
25 September – 22 November 2014
Dazibao, Montréal
Text by Cécilia Bracmort
D’un discours qui ne serait du semblant/Actors, Networks, Theories (DDSSANT) denominated Vincent Bonin’s two-part exhibition, focusing primarily on the impact of French theory in contemporary art. The Montréal based independent curator took different aims for each section of his project, with a first show at Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery (14 November 2013 – 25 January 2014), looking at French thinkers’ influence on North-American artists and writers from the 1970s onwards. Sub-divided into five rooms, this first act confronted works of art with the very texts that inspiring their creation. Alternatively, Bonin’s second program installed at Dazibao (25 September – 22 November 2014), highlighted changes after this assimilation of theory in art became reflective of wider social and cultural developments. Here the Francophile curator adapted his project to Dazibao’s open space to thus enable a perceptible connection between the actors and theories within contemporary art networks. Although the presentation of theory as creative material might have intimidated some viewers – with exhibition constituents involving tightly messed networks of aesthetic and philosophical references – the task was not impossible according to Bonin: “it is not real obscurity, it’s just a lot of homework.” Continue reading “Review: The Visual Semiotics of Discourses and Theories”