2023
Dates
September 7 to October 22, 2023
Curators
Ji-Yoon Han
Theme: Masquerades: Drawn to Metamorphosis
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 explores 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?
Artists
Bianca Baldi (South Africa/Belgium), Rémi Belliveau (Acadie, Canada), Valérie Blass (Canada), Chris Curreri (Canada), Lindsay Katsitsakatste Delaronde (Kahnawà:ke, Canada), Mara Eagle (United States), Jeannette Ehlers (Denmark/Trinidad and Tobago), Séamus Gallagher (Canada), Lynn Hershman Leeson (United States), siren eun young jung (South Korea), Marion Lessard (Canada), Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Vietnam), Marianne Nicolson (Musgamagw Dzawada̱ʼenux̱w Nation), Kristina Norman (Estonia), Meky Ottawa, Michèle Pearson Clarke (Trinidad and Tobago), Émilie Pitoiset (France), Naomi Rincón Gallardo (Mexico), Anette Rose (Germany), Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes (Costa Rica/Canada), Hito Steyerl (Germany), Maya Watanabe (Peru/Netherlands), Carey Young (United Kingdom/United States)
Exhibitions
Sepia, Dans la peau de l’histoire. Becoming Joan Dularge, This Is Not a Metaphor, Games That Two Can Play, Gemini: TEKENÍKHEN (twins), PRETTY TALK, Play Mas, Mother Memory Cellophane, Logic Paralyzes the Heart, The Yeoseong Gukgeuk Project: Hijack the Gender!, The Roman de Remort, or the inhumane, villainous fabliaux of the Ultimate Carnaval, The Specter of Ancestors Becoming, Ta̱wi’stalisa̱la (To Walk Around the World): Reclaiming the Intangible, Orchidelirium, Mos, Quantum Choir, MANIAC, Agüeros. Masquerade for the End of Time, Enzyklopädie der Handhabungen: Braiding Gazes, Visions on the Pond, SocialSim, Liminal, The Vision Machine
Venues
Education
For the 8 creative and reflective workshops in our MOMENTA Creative educational program, collage, drawing, listening, and singing drew 340 people interested in making masks, travelling through time by listening to nostalgic songs, and exploring the liberating and self-affirming potential of singing by taking part in a karaoke session! In addition, our mediation team facilitated access to the Biennale’s 23 exhibitions for a public always more eager to discover new contemporary artworks, with a total of more than 2,300 participants.
For the first time, our exhibitions were accompanied by plain-language texts that made it easier to understand their content and provided inclusive discoveries for everyone:
- 46 plain-language exhibition leaflets, including 2 in Indigenous
Podcast
For the very first time this year, MOMENTA produced a 7-episode podcast, conceived and hosted by the artist Jamie Ross, with guest artists Mara Eagle, Lindsay Katsitsakatste Delaronde, Rémi Belliveau, Valérie Blass, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Séamus Gallagher, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen. Produced by Virage sonore, each episode in the series took the form of a 20-minute individual interview with an artist in the program, and the number of listeners, very promising and encouraging for future editions, testifies to our publics’ strong interest!
In numbers
- 23 artists from abroad and from Canada, representing 15 countries, 4 provinces, and 4 Indigenous nations;
- 60 activities, including exhibitions, workshops, performances, symposiums, talks and panel discussions, and a marathon
- 340 participants in our 8 educational and creative workshops
- 2,300 participants in our guided tours
- More than 30,000 downloads of our route maps ;