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Michel de Broin “Retooled Appliances” at bitforms gallery, New York

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Michel de Broin, Overpower, 2013. cast bronze, light bulb, electricity, transformer, circuit. Courtesy bitforms gallery nyc. Photo: John Berens

Michel de Broin
Retooled Appliances
24 October – 7 December 2013
at bitforms gallery, New York

Michel de Broin is best known for interventions and his refunctionalization of utilitarian objects. Rooted in conceptual premises, de Broin’s work generates unexpected levels of complexity from found objects and physical juxtapositions. Established modes of signification are left behind, yielding retooled technological environments and new possibilities for public space. At times, his ingenuity can be nearly indiscernible upon first glance, appearing as a puzzle for the viewer to complete. For example, “Shared Propulsion Car” is a human powered 1986 Buick Regal that de Broin modified furtively. During the Exit Art biennial in 2005, this revolutionary work was driven through Manhattan, presenting challenges to mid town traffic, despite its petrol free combustion.
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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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Review: Builders, Canadian Biennial 2012 at National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa


Myfanwy MacLeod, Everything Seems Empty Without You, 2009 & Hex (I–VII), 2010. Exhibition view. Courtesy National Gallery of Canada. Photo by M-KOS

With a second edition entitled “Builders“, the Canadian Biennial staged in Ottawa’s National Gallery an exhibition that perhaps went against the grain of mega international extravaganzas, and the usually vast array of ensuing curatorial ideas and ideals. This Biennale voluntarily took a hermetic and back-to-basics approach to its program, to exclusively centre on contemporary Canadian artists selected from the Gallery’s recent acquisitions over the past two years.

Curator Jonathan Shaughnessy cites in his catalogue essay that “Artists are builders in a rudimentary sense. They combine creative ideas, materials and technology with the aim to shape an original way of seeing and interpreting the world”. In an attempt to further canonize Canadiana, Shaughnessy’s title took inspirations from Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame, where Builders herein point to former players that go on to become coaches, managers or executives. Just as the hockey Builders were this way inducted for their contribution to the development of the nation’s most popular sport, Shaughnessy concludes that “In art, builders and players often prove to be one and the same.”

Fresh from the vaults of the National Gallery of Canada, a string works from emerging artists such as Melanie Authier and David Ross Harper mingle with others like Marcel Dzama and Ron Terada as well as veteran figures like Lynne Cohen and Michael Snow. This cross-generational survey of the nation’s talents comprises over 100 individual pieces by 45 artists, to embrace a multitude of disciplinary practices from all geographical backgrounds. Builders constitutes such a wide-encompassing show, that it at times risks a flattening of issues and subject matters. On the other hand, the works are so respectably themed from personal narrative to urbanization, the environment, identity politics, utopia and so on, that these read as a thorough cross-examination of Canada’s cultural material.
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Brooklyn/Montréal goes stateside


 

From October to November 2012, Montreal hosted the first installment of “Montreal/Brooklyn”, initiating an exchange in visual art events between the two titled cities, thus capturing important media and audience attention towards the art scene of the Quebecois metropolis. In an interview with M-KOS, Montreal coordinators Claudine Khelil and Yann Pocreau mention their delight at all the positive feedback received in Montreal, but remain alert for the final chapter of the project that is yet to come, over to the state side of the border. As it is now Brooklyn’s turn to host the next part of this event, indicated by the reversed title (Brooklyn/Montreal), the categorical test for Montreal artists will be about how they are received by New Yorkers, their critics as much as their art enthusiasts. Will there be any buzz?
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Builders: Canadian Biennial 2012 at National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa


Sarah Ann Johnson, Black Box, 2010. (from the Arctic Wonderland series) chromogenic print, photo retouching dyes, acrylic ink, gouache and india ink, incised lines. Collection: National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa © Sarah Anne Johnson / Courtesy Julie Saul Gallery & Stephen Bulger Gallery

Builders: Canadian Biennial 2012
2 November 2012 – 20 January 2013
at National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Artists: Vikky Alexander, David Altmejd, Benoît Aquin, Melanie Authier, Jim Breukelman, Michel De Broin, Edward Burtynsky, Lynne Cohen, Chris Cran, Max Dean, Susan Dobson, Marcel Dzama, Brendan Fernandes, Robert Fones, Will Gorlitz, Terence Gower, David Ross Harper, Faye HeavyShield, Dil Hildebrand, David Hoffos, Simon Hughes, Elisapee Ishulutaq, Sarah Anne Johnson, Brian Jungen, Myfawny Macleod, Qavavau Manumie, Lynne Marsh, Scott McFarland, Jason McLean, Michael Merrill, David Merritt, Evan Penny, Sandy Plotnikoff, Jon Pylypchuk, Leslie Reid, David K. Ross, Mark Ruwedel, Michael Snow, Mark Soo, Derek Sullivan, Ron Terada, Joanne Tod, Steven Waddell, Daniel Young & Christian Giroux. Curated by Jonathan Shaughnessy

Artists are “builders.” Making things is at the core of what they do. Visual artists are those individuals who combine ideas, materials and technologies with the view to modelling an original way of seeing and interpreting the world. Curators working with the art of today are tasked with discovering, following, understanding and processing a varied range of production.
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