Montrealers can experience Iceland’s endless summer days in a captivating exhibit by Ragnar Kjartansson
Sumarnótt, meaning “summer night” in Icelandic, is the name of Ragnar Kjartansson’s new art installation. In a 77-minute music video, the artist captures a long summer night in Iceland, where the sky never goes dark. To create this piece, he partnered with American band The National and Icelandic band múm. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will host the exhibit until Jan. 2, 2022.
Early Thursday morning, I was the first to visit the installation. For 10 minutes, I stood alone amidst a circle of seven floor-to-ceiling screens. The room was dark, but the screens shone bright, showcasing expansive plains and grey skies.
The video featured two sets of twins dressed in wool sweaters, long skirts, and light scarves. They walked from screen to screen, singing, “by the stream, my love,” “in the dark, my love,” and “death is elsewhere.” I caught myself spinning in unison with the twins. Their hair was unbrushed, and the women wore no makeup. They seemed comfortable in the plains, as if they played music there every night.
While I stood in that dark room, I imagined long grass brushing against my shins. I also envisioned a sharp wind blowing against my face. The singers worshipped where I stood. For the length of the performance, I felt like I was an idol at the centre of a spiritual ritual. I transcended into something bigger than myself, something worth reverence and contemplation.
The song, a blend of acoustic guitar and soft harmonies, put me in a trance. It invited me to lay down in the grass and close my eyes. The setting is peaceful and beautiful. However, it morphed into something different. It made me aware of my impermanence.
The singers embraced each other, and they sometimes held each other’s gazes. Once in a while, they stopped to look through the camera and into the dark room where I stood. In their eyes I saw a reflection of my fears and worries. I saw the human condition we all share — mortality.
To emphasize human triviality, Kjartansson gives the grassland more screen time than the performers. He also trivializes the topics they sing about. They sing about death, but the wind continues to blow, and the clouds still move in the sky. Human life and worries are set against a backdrop of a never-ending horizon. The setting is constant and devoid of feeling.
At first, this juxtaposition inundated me with angst. I, the person who stood in the middle of this landscape, was insignificant. But as the singers circled around me, again and again, I started to see the beauty in my temporality. I was suddenly a part of nature. So, I relinquished my worries about what nature had in store for me. Like the twins’ song, for a moment, I chose to believe that love is the continuation of life after death. Love is “in the dark.”
Olafur Eliasson (born in 1967), Untitled no. 44, from the series “Iceland," 1997, chromogenic print, 1/1, 59.1 x 89.1 cm (sight). MMFA, gift of W. Bruce C. Bailey
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ latest exhibition captures the complexities of global warming
I have rarely left a museum feeling emotional and so deeply invested in the curator’s cause. Walking out onto Sherbrooke Street after leaving Ecologies: A Song for Our Planet, I found myself breathtaken and with a heavy heart; both hopeful and troubled for the future that awaits us.
Curated by Iris Amizlev, curator of intercultural arts, Ecologies features over 90 works from the museum’s collection, all of which interpret the current environmental crisis in a different way. Featured artists include Shuvinai Ashoona, Olafur Eliasson, and Lorraine Gilbert.
Upon walking into the space, viewers can observe Giuseppe Penone’s Path (1983), an almost whimsical sculpture that appears to be at once a human and a flowering tree. Penone’s bronze cast figure serves as a demonstration and connection between humans and nature — a theme which Amizlev has made apparent at various instances throughout the exhibition.
Another example of the relationship between humans and the environment can be observed in Lorraine Gilbert’s Boreal Forest Floor, La Macaza, Quebec (2010). The print, which is only half of a diptych from the series “Once Upon a Forest,” features manipulated photographs of plants that are native to Quebec.
Gilbert manipulated the photographs, creating what is essentially a collage, in an attempt to give viewers a “man-made” view of an already beautiful landscape. By resizing, reorganizing, and essentially recreating the scenery, the work demonstrates society’s inclination towards controlling a natural process.
Further in the space, viewers can admire Osuitok Ipeelee’s Untitled (Walruses) (1977) and Peter Qumaluk Itukalla’s Untitled (Bear and Cub) (2003). Though the works are not directly about the climate crisis, the stone sculptures capture the beauty of the threatened Canadian wilderness.
By referencing Indigenous artists and the impacts of colonization, Amizlev makes the important connection between a longstanding history of environmental injustice and the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples, two issues which fall hand-in-hand.
Olafur Eliasson’s Untitled no. 44 (1997), from his series “Iceland,” is a print featuring a stunning depiction of an Icelandic landscape. The contrast between the grassy plain and snowy field in the distance allows viewers to appreciate the grandiosity and serenity of the vast Nordic region.
Eliasson’s works frequently incorporate science, and specifically more “elemental” materials such as water and air. The Danish-Icelandic artist primarily creates installations, and explores themes such as weather, the environment, and space.
In contrast to Eliasson’s tranquil photograph, Adrian Stimson’s Beyond Redemption (2010) is forthright and provocative. Consisting of a taxidermied bison surrounded by ten bison skins draped across black crosses, Stimson’s installation pays homage to the history and importance of the bison in Indigenous communities.
Stimson, a member of the Siksika nation, sacrificed a bison as a means of honouring the near-eradication of the species, as well as the Indigenous tribes who rely on them for sustenance. He offers a glance at the importance of the bison in Indigenous spirituality, as well as the ramifications of human actions on a group of animals that once dominated the wilderness.
Presented alongside Ecologies, viewers can view Paul Walde’s mesmerizing video installation, Requiem for a Glacier (2013). Performed by over 50 artists on the Farnham Glacier in British Columbia, Walde’s piece serves as an homage to the land.
In addition to being threatened by global warming, the government of British Columbia had announced developing a ski resort on the unceded Indigenous land of the Ktunaxa Nation, causing a series of land disputes which lasted over a decade. Walde’s performance features a choir singing the Latin translation of the press release published by the government authorities.
At once aesthetically gratifying and informational, Ecologies provides the public with a compelling narrative and ode to planet Earth. Amizlev’s selection of works so profoundly captures the intricacies and complexity of the climate crisis, offering viewers an experience that is both alarming and stunning.
Ecologies: A Song for Our Planet is on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, at 1380 Sherbrooke St. W., until Feb. 27, 2022. The museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. Reservations must be made in advance. To book a ticket, visit https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/ticket-office/.
Photos courtesy of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
A dive into the ancient Egyptians’ lives and a peek through their wrappings
Open until the end of March at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the exhibit Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives presents the daily life of Ancient Egypt through the eyes of six individuals who lived between 900 BCE to the second century CE.
But there is more than just mummies, 3D scans of the mummies yield high-quality imagery of what is hidden underneath the strips of linen for visitors to explore.
“Exploring Ancient Lives”
The Museum of Fine Arts has put its own twist on the exhibition, originally curated by the British Museum in London, England. Each room connects to the mummy of an individual, which in turn is associated with a theme—music for a female singer, family life for a two-year-old mummified boy, religion for a priest and so forth.
Throughout each room, the public discovers the quotidian Egyptian life, from diet and religion to embalming and wigs. The exhibition showcases beautiful artifacts, mummies and their adorned sarcophaguses.
There is no shortage of historical artifacts to see at the Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition’s curators have succeeded in showing visitors what everyday life in Ancient Egyptian was like.
For nearly 40 years, researchers have scanned mummies using computer tomography (CT scan) to avoid damaging them when unwrapping their bodies. CT scanning yields 3D images of the dead and of the artifacts laying under the strips of linen.
Although non-invasive, this technique has some pitfalls when it comes to interpreting the images the computer creates. The main limitation of CT scans is that the analysis of the images only rarely enable researchers to distinguish between ante—and postmortem traumas—the latter resulting from the mummification process.
The exhibit includes a short video that shows each mummy’s digital unwrapping. Brief text boxes provide information about the discoveries made on the bodies. The six videos are very instructive, even if they’re repetitive once you have seen a couple.
This technique and its video rendering are central to the exhibition. The British Museum and the Museum of Fine Art claim that CT scanning provides a new perspective on these ancient histories. Arguably, it’s not that new.
A decade ago, the same technology was used at the Musée de la Civilisation in Québec city for another mummy exhibition. At the time, it was indeed exceptional—there was only one CT scanning rendering of a mummy, that was displayed in its own section of the exhibition.
The 3D technology is certainly informative and should reel in visitors, but it might not be the showstopper it is designed to be.
Museums have embraced digital technologies and multimedia tools to raise visitors’ engagement. The Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives exhibition is a good example of the inclusion of new technologies.
Besides the CT scanning, the Museum of Fine Arts has partnered with Ubisoft. The video games company has provided a row of computers where visitors can play an educative version of Assassin’s Creed Origins, set in Ancient Egypt.
However, there are other avenues to explore and innovate in museography.
Research shows that immersive and multisensory exhibitions are one path worth exploring to engage visitors with a topic, stimulate their interest and provoke emotional responses.
The curators of Egyptian Mummies have experimented with this immersive approach through the occasional use of ambient sounds and lighting effects. But they have not fully embraced it.
More could have been done to engage the public on a multisensory level and give visitors the impression that they are, indeed, “exploring ancient lives.” Yet, the exhibition is definitely worth a visit––you will learn a lot and there are so many beautiful and informative things to see. The Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives exhibition is open until March 29.
Clients of Les Impatients find solace through artistic expression
Art therapy is an approach that uses visual arts such as painting, drawing, collage and sculpture, as well as other art mediums, to allow participants to express emotions, deal with past trauma, and use art as a means of communication.
Since 2015, Les Impatients, an organization that offers creative art therapy workshops to clients with mental health struggles, has partnered with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) to exhibit the work of these individuals. Awakening to Art is currently being featured in the museum’s education wing, showcasing the talents and healing journeys of these participants.
Using the techniques and healing modalities of art therapy, participants have chosen the themes of identity and self-empowerment for this year’s exhibition. Volunteers François Martin and Louise Livernoche, as well as the director of Espace Création, Dominique Payette, came together alongside the participants from two Integrated Health and Social Services Centres (CISSS) in Montérégie to create this powerful display.
As you enter the room, to the right, viewers are welcomed with a wall of portraits depicted in white and red paint on black foam core. There is a beautiful cohesion among the pieces hung side-by-side, yet each work was so remarkably individual. The visual as a whole is striking and bold, and the inherent narrative of emotion radiates from each unique piece.
Wire sculptures hung from the ceiling and rested on small white shelves. Bright white lights shone onto the installation, creating shadows from the sculptures on the wall—this gave the illusion of two works of art within the same one. The sculptures themselves, alongside the shadows, give the impression of the installation coming to life. Together, the installation was a sight that would take any art enthusiast’s breath away. Every time you look at the installation again, you see a different dimension to the work.
Fabric arts were also amongst the pieces in the collection. Quilting and beadwork hung on the walls and colourful rows. Included in the collection of artworks were clay and textile pieces inspired by the museum’s current exhibition, Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives.
Make sure you take the time to go to J.A. DeSève Gallery, Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion, level S1, the next time you go the MMFA to check out Awakening to Art, on until March 8.
Railroad builder shares his passion of Japanese art
Art can be found in every shape and pattern. Obsession: Sir William Van Horne’s Japanese Ceramics introduces a railroad builder’s passion for Japanese art. The exhibition takes place in a small obscure room in the MMFA, exposing nearly 150 pieces of ceramics. Alongside the Japanese ceramics, there are various archival documents and watercolours by Van Horne.
Visitors can observe and appreciate pots, bowls, cups and figurines that are displayed across the room. Every ceramic in the room is distinct due to its shape, colour, and motifs illustrated on it. Some are long and cylindrical, whereas others are small and round; this collection illustrates the diversity in Japanese art.
One of the most remarkable pieces is a sake bottle with moulded porcelain figurines of three boys, depicted as if they were running around the bottle. There is also an incense burner in the shape of a cat that can easily catch one’s attention. Another astonishing work is the sake ewer – a jug with a wide mouth. The piece has a rat-shaped spout and a cat-shaped lid knob.
According to the exhibition page on the MMFA’s website, the American-born Van Horne was known as a railroad builder, in 1881, when he participated in the extension of the Canadian Pacific Railway to British Columbia. This plan was developed by the Macdonald government and brought Van Horne recognition since the project was under his leadership.
The opening of Japan in 1854 allowed the West to collect Japanese ceramics. Ceramics were a great source of trade in the Western market. Japanese scholar Ninagawa Noritane, along with Boston zoologist Edward S. Morse, believed that exporting these Japanese ceramics would be more appealing to people, since they were more “authentic”, than exporting ware. Noritane played a big part in creating an international market for Japanese ceramics.
Then, Japanese ceramics caught the attention of many people. Van Horne was able to purchase ceramic pieces from art dealers, such as Shugio Hiromichi who traveled between Tokyo and New York. Most of these collectors lived in Montreal’s Square Mile, where they decorated their homes with various ceramics.
Visitors have access to small details throughout the exhibition, explaining how all this came to be. Van Horne was able to purchase at least 1200 ceramics through a network of merchants from Boston, Japan and New York. all of his Japanese ceramics were preserved in his house. He would study them, observing each detail. Then, he would draw them and describe each one in his many notebooks. His writings and drawings can be observed by visitors.
The exhibition offers visitors a taste of Japanese art, but also encourages them to understand the socio-economic structures that permitted collectors such as Van Horne to have access to it, and understand the impact of the expansion of railroads during the 19th century.
Obsession: Sir William Van Horne’s Japanese Ceramics will be available at Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday until March 1.
Are museums and art collectors tokenizing or supporting artists?
Bruce Bailey is a philanthropist, art collector and “major friend” of Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). Originally from Ontario, Bailey studied law in Halifax and became close with many artists attending Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD), thus beginning his art collecting practice.
Today, his collection includes hundreds of works, from local Canadian artists like Michael Snow, Christopher Wahl and Kent Monkman, to old masters, like Francisco Goya, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt and Otto Dix. A mere handful of these are currently on display at the MMFA in “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”
Mary-Dailey Demarais and Bruce Bailey
The name attached to this collection is derived from a line in Song of Myself, a poem by Walt Whitman. The collection’s curator, Mary-Dailey Desmarais, chose this name to allude to Bailey’s love for humanity, the human experience and all the good and bad that goes with it.
The moon is a recurring image among the collection. I see it as something that grounds us, reminding viewers of their size and role in the universe: something the entire world can look to.
The museum also recently opened a new collection wing, The Arts of One World, a tribute to Martinique poet and philosopher, Édouard Glissant, whose work questioned ethnocentric views of world history. The collection is divided into wings and rooms dedicated to different continents, Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean and the ocean (“The Blue Continent”), each containing contemporary art works and cultural objects.
The collection is a result of years of work and a team of cultural curators, critical museologists, and various historians and art specialists. The exhibition prompts further research and educational practices for children and adults, with tours, workshops, discussions and more. It isn’t a collection to be taken lightly, it requires reviewing and multiple visits – or just one very dedicated and attentive day.
The Arts of One World: Visitors first walk into a room dedicated African art.
The Arts of One World: Into the Americas, Betabée Romero’s Guerreros en cautiverio III is on the far right.
Part of The Arts of One World collection, Recasting the Fabric of the Americas includes a gold emblazoned work by Mexican artist, Betsabeé Romero. Guerreros en cautiverio III (Captive Warriors III) is a piece acquired with funds that Bruce Bailey raised for the purchase of an artwork, but not from Bailey’s private collection. Guerreros en cautiverio III is an engraved tire decorated in gold leaf. The statement accompanying the work described Romero’s interest in human migration, borders and boundaries, and cultural traditions, “to activate the craft of history, to weave memory in new ways, particularly those of Indigenous peoples.”
“Weaving memory in new ways…” Collecting and displaying cultural artefacts, paintings included, isn’t easy. It has to be approachable. It has to make you want to look closer and do the work, encourage exploration, reading, and questioning.
I find myself asking whether these works should be in a museum, would they be better off in their homes? Where are their homes? Who made them?
It’s easy to track contemporary works, and including them in rooms saturated with ancient objects is empowering. But they’re hard to follow when walking through. Everything needs to be read.
“We are now living in a golden age,” Bailey said. He has an engaged and audacious vision, radically supporting Indigenous and gay artists.
Viewing these two new collections, Bailey’s and The Arts of One World, put the practice of collection at the forefront. Each time an object is displayed, its context, at face value, will change too. Bailey’s artworks don’t mean the same thing in storage as they do up on the gallery’s walls. The way they are placed and the works they live beside will change the story they tell. Collections create a narrative, and viewers should ask themselves who the narrative is for, who put it together and who might be at a loss because of it.
“Art has been a refuge for me because it has allowed me to create an alternate world that allowed me to escape from the grim realities of my real world,” Bailey said, in a documentary about his work as a salonnier, currently on view at Cinéma du Musée.
“For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”
“For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”
The term “salonnier” refers to “les salons de Paris,” a cultural archetype of largely private and upper-class gatherings, most frequently involving the arts.
“By establishing an intellectually stimulating and egalitarian space for discourse, [salonniers] promote Enlightenment values of rationality, equality, and fraternity, realize a distinct social good and are at the forefront of important issues shaping society and politics,” according to The Public Sphere’s Salons.
While salons are traditionally elitist happenings, Bailey’s role as an openly gay salonnier, and thus a significant figure of Canadian culture (the National Post called him the Canadian Gatsby) dismantles some of these notions. Although it’s hard to find the line between the good that is being done and the tokenizing.
The tokenization of art (“offering fractional ownership of single tier-one artworks,” according to The Tokenizer), is a very capitalist thing in and of itself, but I’m using the term here to refer to “a member of a minority group included in an otherwise homogeneous set of people in order to give the appearance of diversity,” according to Lexico.
The western institutional art world and the people that run galleriesvare predominantly white. The works chosen to be part of this collection become cherry picked symbols of the culture and country from which they were made. Accepting that as a fact, and attempting to dismantle it so collections like The Arts of One World can exist, free of these notions, is impossible.
Part of McGill University’s eighth annual Indigenous Awareness Week, Inuit Women in the Arts will feature a panel of distinguished Inuit artists and curators. Heather Igloliorte, the co-curator of Among All These Tundras and professor of art history at Concordia, as well as Niap Saunders, a multidisciplinary artist from Kuujjuaq, Que., will be among the women participating in the panel discussion.
When: Sept. 25 at 5 p.m.
Where: McGill Indigenous studies program building, 3643 Peel St.
Admission is free. RSVP with Eventbrite.
Words Before All Else: Oral Histories in the Digital Age
Art centres Vidéographe and Dazibao come together to present multiple screenings that explore traditional stories and storytelling. According to Vidéographe’s website, “the works in this program make use of experimental forms akin to computer animation.” Words Before All Else will present short, digitally animated films by Skawennati, Mary Kunuk, Zacharias Kunuk, Trevino L. Brings Plenty, Doug Smarch Jr., Elizabeth LaPensée, Zack Khalil and Adam Shingwak Khalil.
When: Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.
Where: Dazibao, 5455 Gaspé Ave., Suite 105
Admission is free. Space is limited.
Art POP Montreal
Art POP curators Terrance Richard and Hugo Dufour have organized a collection of more than 70 artists for this year’s festival, with works that explore identity, heritage, narrative, class and culture. Taking over the entire third floor of the Rialto Complex with solo and group shows, the Art POP studio will showcase live dance performances and an independent writers reading event. Richard and Dufour have also organized satellite exhibitions all over the city. The locations include Espace POP, OBORO, Centre Clark, Ellephant and Pied Carré.
When: Vernissages, workshops and other events will take place until Sept. 30.
Admission to all Art POP exhibitions is free.
Alexander Calder: Radical Inventor
Calder has worked in a variety of disciplines—from painting and drawing to jewelry and sculpture. Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 150 of Calder’s most innovative artworks have been brought together in a new exhibition. Born into a family of artists, Calder had a passion for invention. He designed several large sculptures, such as Trois Disques, which was created for Expo 67 in Parc Jean-Drapeau. The museum will be hosting several lectures, film screenings, workshops and family activities associated with Radical Inventor until the end of October.
When: Now until Feb. 24
Where: MMFA, Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, Level 2
Exhibition at the MMFA melds the visual with the auditory
Music had a deep influence on Marc Chagall. The Russian-French artist was an early modernist in the late 19th to early 20th century. He was versatile both in style and medium, creating paintings, sculptures and even stained glass.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) takes an overarching look at Chagall’s illustrious career in Chagall: Colour and Music. Featuring 340 works of art, the MMFA has combined interactive elements with classic exhibition spaces to immerse visitors in Chagall’s art.
According to the museum, the exhibition is the largest ever devoted to Chagall in Canada. And considering how prolific the artist was, it requires a lot of time to go through. The exhibition space is massive. In order to truly understand the different influences in the artist’s life, it’s worth taking the time to read the museum descriptions to really appreciate the artwork on display.
There is quite a variety of artwork to see. In his lifetime, Chagall produced sculptures, paintings, drawings, and costumes for ballets and operas. He even dabbled in stained glass and tapestry making. It seems as if no medium was out of his reach.
No matter which piece you look at, regardless of when in Chagall’s career it was produced, the work is always unmistakably Chagall. The essence of the artist’s style—be it in the integration of geographic shapes, the vivid colours or the appearance of movement—is always present to some degree. Even going from a flat canvas to a three-dimensional sculpture, his works still bear his signature curves and geometric patterns. Through his versatility there is also familiarity, and it is interesting to chart the changes Chagall went through over the span of his career.
As you go through the exhibition, you learn that Chagall had several muses he drew upon for inspiration. Of his muses, music and colour were consistent. Music had a powerful effect on Chagall, and moved him deeply. Another one of his other influences was religion. His Yiddish and Jewish roots were very important to him, and had a profound impact on his creations, evident in his depictions of traditional Yiddish culture.
Music was such an integral part of Chagall’s artwork that the MMFA took it into account when putting together the exhibition. There is music playing in most of the rooms, the kind Chagall might have been listening to while he painted. Most of the tracks are traditional Yiddish and Jewish scores, or classical music. The audio adds depth to the pieces. Instead of simply viewing the end results, we are privy to a small part of the artistic process.
In his works, Chagall, like Picasso, explored canvas space, texture and colour. Though Chagall’s style was whimsical and often childlike, his work also communicated deep messages of longing, or fear during the World War II when he sensed Jews were beginning to be hunted and persecuted.
Chagall: Colour and Music is on display at the MMFA until June 11. Tickets are $15 for visitors under the age of 30, and $23 for visitors aged 31 and over. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A quick look at what’s happening in the city this semester
Winter might have its cold, cold claws firmly clamped down on the city, but that doesn’t mean Montreal’s vibrant arts and culture scene is any less interesting. With winter festivals and activities taking place both inside and outdoors, there’s something to satisfy everyone’s tastes and preferences. Here’s a quick look at some of the things you can look forward to this semester.
Montreal en lumière
Back for its 18th year, the Montréal en lumière festival will once again offer a unique program, consisting of outdoor activities, performing arts and gastronomic discoveries. The festival runs from Feb. 18 to March 11, and is one of the largest winter festivals in the world. You won’t want to miss the festival’s biggest event: Nuit blanche on March 4. With more than 200 activities spread out over 100 sites, this Montreal staple will be sure to warm up even the coldest of nights with its eclectic mix of musical and artistic performances. Mother Mother, Regina Spektor and Matt Holubowski are some of the artists set to perform. Not to mention, the metro is open all night, so you can enjoy all manner of activities until the break of dawn.
The FOFA Gallery
As Concordia students, we are lucky to have our very own in-house exhibition space. The Faculty of Fine Arts Gallery, located in the EV building, routinely displays pieces from Concordia students and faculty. Admission is free. The gallery has an interesting line-up of exhibitions for the winter semester, starting with Making Spaces, the annual undergraduate student exhibition running from Jan. 16 to Feb. 17. The exhibition, featuring works by Faculty of Fine Arts students, will include performances from Concordia’s department of contemporary dance.
Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery
Sovereign Acts II, an examination of indigenous cultural dances, will be presented at the gallery from Jan. 21 to April 1. This work delves into the way indigenous dances and practices were performed for international and colonial audiences. It looks at how these performers were faced with the conundrum of maintaining their traditional cultural practices, while also using them as performances intended to please the colonial gaze.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
If the winter blues have got you down, then the next exhibition opening at the MMFA will cheer you up. Chagall: Colour and Music will be on display from Jan. 28 to June 11. Four hundred of Marc Chagall’s paintings, stained glass works, illustrations, photographs and maquettes will be on display. The exhibition will not only show the Russian-French artist’s legacy, but will also examine the role music played in Chagall’s art, acting as his inspiration and muse for his modernist works.
