Concordia’s Art Matters festival, the only one of its kind in Canada, begins on Friday. “It’s insane right now,” said Jim Verburg. “Now is the crunchy time,” added Celia Perrin Sidarous. Verburg and Sidarous are this year’s Art Matters co-producers and artistic directors.
Having received over 350 submissions this year from Concordia students, the festival covers a wide range of artistic disciplines. “We have painting, we have sculpture, photography; there’s a few fibers pieces, there’s theatre, there’s a dance night at Mainline Theatre, and there’s film as well, and video, performance, installation.” said Sidarous. “The aim of the festival is to cover all mediums of art that are done at Concordia, within the faculty of fine arts, so it’s trying to be as representative as we can of all disciplines.”
The show will take place in over 20 Montreal venues this year, and the organizers hope it will be better than ever. “I think, each year we try to improve upon the last year.
It’s always a new group who does it, but the group before always writes a “cookbook,” they call it, of how to, and we always try to improve on that,” said Verburg.
Out of all the shows, Verburg and Sidarous are particularly excited about two of them. Force Fields is a show that will be taking place at The Long Hall from March 5th to 11th. “It’s two artists that live there, and they have exhibitions there, too, but it’s also their home, it’s their studio, it’s all of that at the same time,” said Sidarous. Verburg continued, “And the curators from that event really used that aspect, that it’s a live-in space, so all the work deals with this push and pull between containment and home. I think it’s a strong show.”
The other show that the duo is particularly looking forward to is one housed at the Peace Art Gallery from March 2nd to the 18th, entitled Little Wild Dear. “It’s a show that deals with nature and man I guess, […] and what’s come of the interaction between humans and nature and the time we live in now. It’s very interesting,” said Sidarous.
The festival has also been invited to participate in the fourth annual Nuit Blanche. “It’s the first time that Art Matters collaborates with a bigger festival than what it is,” said Sidarous. Art Matters will be at the Darling Foundry on the night of March 3rd with the group exhibition Get a Life, not to mention a 600-slice “red velvet blood icing cake” by Karin Z, face painting, and shows.
All Art Matters events are free, and everyone involved in the festival is a student at Concordia. The festival program is available online at http://artmatters.concordia.ca/ and the event runs from March 2nd to 18th .
The Scene:
Friendly Fire
Art Mur – 5826 St-Hubert
Vernissage: March 1, 5-8 p.m.
March 1 to 17
You’re in my House
Casa del Popolo – 4873 St-Laurent
Vernissage: March 6, 7-9 p.m.
March 1 to 31
Get A Life
Fonderie Darling – 745 Ottawa
Curated by Margaret Haines
Vernissage: March 3, 7 p.m. – 3 a.m.
Feb. 28 to March 15
Living with Mastodons
Friendship Cove – 215 Murray
Curated by Brett Bergman
Vernissage: March 13, 7 p.m. – 12 a.m.
March 11 to 25
PTV Presents
Galerie Espace – 4844 St-Laurent
Curated by Renee Stills + Jacob Last
Vernissage: March 6, 7-11 p.m.
Feb. 28 to March 13
Carnivale Noire
Galerie Yergeau – 2060 Joly
Curated by Caitlin Durlak
Vernissage: March 7, 6-9 p.m.
March 1 to 11
Touching You, Touching Me
The Green Room – 5386 St-Laurent
Curated by Larissa Holmes
Vernissage: March 5, 7-10 p.m.
March 2 to 8
Wholly Mishmash!
Mainline Theatre – 3997 St-Laurent
Curated by Ella Fox
Show: March 5, 7 p.m.
Inside Out @ Nota Bene – 3416 Parc
Curated by Merriah Lamb
Vernissage: March 10, 1-4 p.m.
Feb. 26 to March 16
Envisioning the City
O Patro Vys – 365 Mont-Royal
Curated by Maria Salazar
Vernissage: March 7, 7 p.m.
March 7 to April 2
Little Wild Dear
Peace Art – 372 Ste-Catherine W.
Curated by Erik Alexander Percival Osberg
Vernissage: March 10, 4-7 p.m.
March 2 to 18
Lost Horizon/Horizon Perdu
Quartier Libre – 4289 Notre-Dame Q.
Curated by Jennifer Crane
Vernissage: March 13, 5-8 p.m.
March 2 to 18
Tracings @ Redbird – 135 Van Horne
Curated by Gina Badger
Vernissage: March 9, 7-9 p.m.
March 9 to 14
Please Don’t Blink
Sala Rossa – 4848 St-Laurent
Curated by Myriam Jacob-Allard
Show: March 14, 7:30 p.m.
Force Fields @ The Long Hall – 450 Beaumont
Curated by Carolyn Beattie + Erica Brisson
Vernissage: March 8, 8 p.m.
March 5 to 11
Between U and I and Alphabet City
Theatre Ste-Catherine – 264 Ste-Catherine E.
Curated by Myriam Carrier
Show: March 14 and 15, 7 p.m
Remembering, Molto, Debris, Gather, Mass, Terrain, Etc.
VAV Gallery – 1395 Rene-Levesque W.
Curated by Stephanie Geracitano + Noor Sobhan
Vernissage: March 6, 5-7 p.m.
March 5 to 17
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