MOMENTA 2023 PROGRAM
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image is delighted to announce the complete list of artists and exhibition venues participating in its 18th edition, from September 7 to October 22, 2023. Designed by curator Ji-Yoon Han, Masquerades: Drawn to Metamorphosis aims to explore the dynamics of visibility and invisibility that shape representations of the self and the other from the metamorphic potentials of mimicry.
Deployed in fifteen locations across the city, the biennial program will bring together 23 artists from abroad, representing 15 countries, and from 4 provinces and 4 Indigenous nations of Canada. From one exhibition to the next, processes of transformation, mimicry, and mutation will be activated, questioning the functions of the image, between representation and metamorphosis.
The exhibitions, the publication, and the public programs will be organized around this theme. Like a parade, the exhibitions form a sequence of surprising scenarios: humans who converse through mimicking parrots; a cephalopod that sways to the music of Whitney Houston; people with a complex about singing who form a choir; a scorpion, a bat, and a snake who unite their voices in a satirical musical comedy; and more…
News
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image is delighted to announce the complete list of artists and exhibition venues participating in its 18th edition, from September 7 to October 22, 2023.
| Designed by curator Ji-Yoon Han, Masquerades: Drawn to Metamorphosis aims to explore the dynamics of visibility and invisibility that shape representations of the self and the other from the metamorphic potentials of mimicry. Deployed in fifteen locations across the city, the biennial program will bring together 23 artists from abroad, representing 15 countries, and from 4 provinces and 4 Indigenous nations of Canada. From one exhibition to the next, processes of transformation, mimicry, and mutation will be activated, questioning the functions of the image, between representation and metamorphosis. Artists and Exhibition Partners – Centre CLARK : Kristina Norman (Estonia) – daphne : Meky Ottawa – Dazibao : Anette Rose (Germany), Carey Young (United Kingdom/United States) – Diagonale : Bianca Baldi (South Africa) – Fonderie Darling : Valérie Blass (Canada), Jeannette Ehlers (Denmark/Trinidad and Tobago) – Galerie B-312 : Michèle Pearson Clarke (Trinidad and Tobago)*** – Galerie FOFA : Mara Eagle (United States) – Galerie de l’UQAM : Marion Lessard (Canada)*, Émilie Pitoiset (France), Naomi Rincón Gallardo (Mexico) – Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery : siren eun young jung (South Korea) – McCord Stewart Museum : Séamus Gallagher (Canada)* – Montreal Museum of Fine Arts : Lynn Hershman Leeson (United States) – Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal : Hito Steyerl (Germany) – Occurrence : Chris Curreri (Canada), Maya Watanabe (Peru/Netherlands) – OPTICA : Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes (Costa Rica/Canada)*, Lindsay Katsitsakatste Delaronde (Kahnawà:ke, Canada)** – VOX, centre de l’image contemporaine: Rémi Belliveau (Acadia, Canada)*, Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Vietnam), Marianne Nicolson (Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw Nation)* *Presentation of a work commissioned by MOMENTA Biennale de l’image **Presentation of a work co-commissioned by MOMENTA Biennale de l’image and Bonavista Biennale ***Presentation of a work in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Hamilton To learn more about our program, download our press release here |
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image is proud to announce a new partnership with RBC Foundation to support the work of three emerging Québec-based artists
| MOMENTA and RBC Foundation are partnering to support the career development of three emerging artists by creating a guidance, mentorship, and production program. This is the second fruitful collaboration between MOMENTA and RBC Foundation; the first resulted in a path of augmented reality works in 2021. Now, RBC is renewing its confidence in MOMENTA by joining up to create an all-new support program for Québec-based emerging artists. The 2023 MOMENTA x RBC Foundation program offers a unique chance to Rémi Belliveau, Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes, and Marion Lessard to create original works for presentation during the 18th edition of MOMENTA. The program will provide these artists with significant support to further their career: providing a solid springboard, the program helps to raise the visibility of the artists and offers incomparable networking and professionalization opportunities, while bringing their work to a broader public in Québec and beyond. |
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image is delighted to announce the visit of Korean artist siren eun young jung, as part of a conference to be held at Concordia University on April 18, 6:00 p.m. This talk will be an opportunity to meet one of the major international artists featured in the 2023 program of the biennale.
| Yeoseong Gukgeuk Project: To Imagine Queer Mnemonics with siren eun young jung April 18, 2023, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. In person – Concordia University, Room 114, VA Building, 1395 René-Lévesque BLVD W. Reception to follow. Please note that there is a limited number of places, we advise you to arrive a little earlier. Online – Join Zoom meeting here Artist siren eun young jung discusses her long-term ethnographic research project, Yeoseong Gukgeuk Project (2008-present), which critically investigates gender binaries, the invention of traditions, and history writing. The gender-bending practices of Yeoseong Gukgeuk, a theatrical form played by people who identify as women, reveal the hegemonic construction of modern norms and historiography. In this talk, the artist attempts to imagine forms of queer memory, genealogy, and defiance against hegemonic powers through this long-term project grounded in moving images. To ensure time for presentation and questions, we encourage attendees to visit the artist’s website in advance of the talk and watch Deferral Theatre (2018) available for streaming (35:05 minutes). A presentation co-hosted with the Global Emergent Media Lab (GEM Lab), MOMENTA Biennale de l’image, and the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery. This program is part of the GEM Lab 2022-2023 Seminar in Media and Political Theory, Video/Art/TV: Digital Aesthetics and Politics. Have questions? Email mayarae.oppenheimer@concordia.ca |
SAVOIR DEVENIR IMAGE. QUELLES STRATÉGIES DE VISIBILITÉ ET D’INVISIBILITÉ AUJOURD’HUI?
Panel moderated by Ji-Yoon Han, curator of MOMENTA 2023
With Jade Almeida and Nathalie Casemajor
Saturday, August 27, 12 p.m.
As part of the Papier Art Fair, Grand Quay in the Port of Montreal
(200 de la Commune W St)
In French only
In view of its 18th edition, which will take place in the fall of 2023, MOMENTA Biennale de l’image presents a first public conversation around the theme Masquerades: The Lure of Metamorphosis. Jade Almeida, researcher in sociology and history of culture, Nathalie Casemajor, professor-researcher specialized in digital culture, and Ji-Yoon Han, curator of MOMENTA 2023, discuss contemporary issues of visuality raised by, among other things, identity politics and the development of surveillance technologies.
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image is pleased to collaborate with Papier for its next edition which will take place from August 26 to 28, 2022 at the Grand Quay in the Port of Montreal. Created by the Association des galeries d’art contemporain (AGAC) in 2007, Papier is the largest art fair in Québec. The event is a key driver for Canadian contemporary art, as well as a unique meeting ground for the greater public, enthusiasts and visual arts professionals alike.
MOMENTA 2023
Building upon a theme titled Masquerades: Drawn to Metamorphosis, curator Ji-Yoon Han will explore the dynamics of visibility and invisibility that shape representations of the self and the other from the metamorphic potentials of mimicry.
“We’ve all experienced that gap between who we think we are and how others perceive us. We’ve all felt the friction between the identity assigned to us and the one we construct for ourselves. We: that is, you and me—as well as others, human or not. Individuals are constantly recorded, formatted, fixed as same and identical, so here’s the urgent question: how do we (re)set in motion our understanding of identities and differences in the social space and in intimate experiences of otherness?”
– Ji-Yoon Han, curator of MOMENTA 2023
Deadline: May 15, 2022
Theme: Masquerades: Drawn to Metamorphosis
Curator: Ji-Yoon Han
MASCARADES. L’ATTRAIT DE LA MÉTAMORPHOSE
The 2023 edition of MOMENTA Biennale de l’image will explore the dynamics of visibility and invisibility that shape representations of the self and the other, between mutation, exhibitsure and concealment, separation and fusion. At the core of the curatorial proposal dwells the notion of mimicry. Looking into the image as an agent of metamorphosis, the theme calls for an exploration of theatricality and of the moving lines that today are redefining gestures of appropriation and disguise. Identities will also be addressed in relation to animal, plant, and technological mimicry. The biennale will foster a dialogue among artists whose works probe the functions of the image, between representation and metamorphosis, and seek to (re)set in motion our understanding of identities and differences in the social space and in intimate experiences of otherness.
TYPES OF WORKS BEING SOUGHT
We are looking for works by Canadian artists that explore the potential for mimicry and metamorphosis in identities (whether human or not). For the different exhibitions, we wish to investigate multiple perspectives including, but not limited to: mimicry (in its transversality), metamorphosis, masquerade, visibility processes, invisibilization, camouflage, alteration of the self, becoming image, and more.
We are interested in works that employ photographic and videographic languages, which may take diverse forms such as installations, three-dimensional works, or experience-based works. We will favour newly produced works or works that haven’t been exhibited in the province of Quebec and/or Montreal.
We are soliciting only artists’ works that respond to the theme Masquerades. We are not seeking curatorial proposals. This call for submissions is addressed only to Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
Submissions
Submissions must be sent by email only (in English or French), by no later than May 15, 2022, at 11:59 PM, to: soumission2023@momentabiennale.com
All submissions in compliance with the instructions described herein and received by the deadline will be carefully reviewed by the curator and MOMENTA. Since we receive a very large number of proposals, MOMENTA will contact only the applicants whose file has been selected.
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image gratefully acknowledges the generous support of its partners: Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts de Montréal, Ville de Montréal, Gouvernement du Québec, and Government of Canada
MOMENTA Biennale de l’image is delighted to announce the appointment of Ji-Yoon Han as curator for its 18th edition, which will take place in September and October 2023. Building upon a theme titled Masquerades: Drawn to Metamorphosis, curator Ji-Yoon Han will explore the dynamics of visibility and invisibility that shape representations of the self and the other from the metamorphic potentials of mimicry. The exhibitions, the publication, and the public programs will be organized around this theme.
MASQUERADES: DRAWN TO METAMORPHOSIS
By: Ji-Yoon Han
We’ve all experienced that gap between who we think we are and how others perceive us. We’ve all felt the friction between the identity assigned to us and the one we construct for ourselves. We: that is, you and me—as well as others, human or not. Starting from this premise, MOMENTA 2023 will explore the dynamics of visibility and invisibility that shape representations of the self and the other. Individuals are constantly recorded, formatted, fixed as same and identical, so here’s the urgent question: how do we (re)set in motion our understanding of identities and differences in the social space and in intimate experiences of otherness?
The notion of mimicry serves as the main driving force for developing the biennale. Mimicry designates the aptitude to “do as if”: to imitate (do the same), which involves first and foremost the capacity to transform (unmake) oneself by blurring the borders that define the edges of beings and things. Transversally, mimicry concerns human behaviour, the experience of all living things (animal and plant mimicry), and technological modelling (machine-learning mimicry). It situates us in the interstice between the self and the other, linking them and leading them to melt into one another. It is precisely the potential for metamorphoses inscribed in this interstice that MOMENTA 2023 wishes to embrace with the title Masquerades.
The image has a decisive role to play in these operations of mutation, of exhibitsure and concealment, of separation and fusion. It is an ideal tool for seeing, experiencing, and testing perceptions of the self. The theme of mimicry thus calls for an exploration of theatricality and of the virtuality of the mask, whose performance is facilitated and stimulated by technical images. In this sense, the biennale will pay particular attention to the moving lines that today are redefining gestures of appropriation and disguise: how are identities played and outwitted? And who can possess light of the spectacle of identity?
Beyond its function of representation, the image is also an agent of mimetic metamorphosis. Doing like the other, taking oneself for another, or seeing oneself as another is to “become image.” In a reality that indeed seems to be devoured by images, mimicry takes on a unique significance, as borne out in camouflage strategies that have emerged to cope with generalized institutional and corporate surveillance. As a consequence of the demand for the right to invisibility and anonymity, the face—a fundamental aspect of identity—is erased, replaced, or even disfigured. Might this not also be the expression of a more ambiguous desire to “blend into the background”?
The disruption of perception, especially visual, is at the core of mimetic scenarios. Who is looking at whom in my encounter with a chameleon, a stranger, an artificial intelligence? What about the feelings of incongruity, immersion, sinking, and vertigo, or even intoxication, produced by mimicry? The biennale will foster a dialogue among artists whose works seize on these operators of ambiguity and of entangled gazes. The exhibitions will provide a fresh look at the issues involved with mimicry and the alteration of identities by exploring the functions of the image, between representation and metamorphosis. Beyond the instability of identity that is thus brought to light, might these intersubjective experiences lead us to reimagine our commonalities and what creates a sense of community?
CURATOR
Ji-Yoon Han lives and works in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal. In her often interdisciplinary curatorial projects, she seeks to reclaim the embeddedness and relevance of the visual arts in multilayered contexts that are themselves in transformation. Previously a curator at Fonderie Darling (2017–20), she organized exhibitions of works by Cynthia Girard-Renard, Barbara Steinman, Javier González Pesce, and Guillaume Adjutor Provost, as well as a performative cycle on listening and sound art practices. She has contributed to monographs on Geneviève Cadieux and Louise Robert. In her PhD dissertation, she investigated how images competed between 1929 and 1936, articulating photography, surrealism, and the nascent cultures of the illustrated press and advertising. She is currently a guest researcher for the Photography and Commission project, with the support of Les amis du Centre Pompidou, Paris.
MOMENTA 2023 will encourage conversations, encounters, and exchanges initiated by a selection of artists from all over the world, with particular focus on artists from Quebec and Canada. Produced in collaboration with numerous exhibition partners, many exhibitions will present the work of more than twenty artists in total. The exhibitions will be accompanied by a publication and an extended program of activities for the public.
