à corps perdu | sharing madness
Curators: Florence-Agathe Dubé-Moreau, Maude Johnson
Artists: Amrita Hepi, Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, Ligia Lewis, Lo Fi Dance Theory, Benny Nemer, Andrea Peña, Andros Zins-Browne
September 9, 2022 - October 22, 2022
Opening: September 8, 2022, 5:30 pm
From September 9 to October 22, 2022, Galerie de l’UQAM hosts à corps perdu | sharing madness, a group exhibition bringing together artists and curators from local and international scenes regarding the different uses of the danced gesture in contemporary art. Curated by Florence-Agathe Dubé-Moreau and Maude Johnson, the project explores the idea of moving together in a post-2020 context in which human relations have been challenged.
The exhibition
What can choreography reveal about interpersonal connections and our need for community? Reflecting on this question, the curators consider dance as a choice medium to closely examine human interactions. Through interdisciplinary approaches, the artists and choreographers featured in à corps perdu | sharing madness focus on our relationships with others, on the ways, or impossibilities, of being together. The ends to which they employ dance provide multiple entry points for considering shared movements and expressing the nuances of an embodied or intimate relationship to the world.
The pieces included in this show explore new ways of “moving together.” These two words suggest an impulse that can (re)unite us, while also echoing the increasingly heightened forms of collective uprisings as seen in contemporary social and environmental justice movements. They also refer to a desire for closeness and to the disruption of intimate connections entailed by recent isolation measures. Furthermore, moving together pertains to movements that inhabit the exhibition space, whether that be of ideas or of bodies shifting with the experience of each piece. This act highlights the fundamental role of performance in the institutional structure and how human beings, thus the living, find themselves in the crux of systemic organized movements.
Each of the works bear the traces of the pandemic’s impact on both live art creation and modes of presentation in theatres or exhibition spaces. à corps perdu | sharing madness is simultaneously embedded in current curatorial issues that consider the consequences of isolation on the experience of contemporary art, and an interdisciplinary approach that aims to probe our interactions today. Through the lens of dance and choreography, the exhibition is an invitation to polyphonic, open reflection on the question, “What does being together mean from now on?”
About the artists
à corps perdu | sharing madness brings together internationally renowned artists and choreographers, many of whom are presenting their work in Montreal for the first time. Combining a variety of mediums (videos, performances, sculptures, photographs, sound pieces) within large-scale installations, the exhibition offers a wide range of experiences of current issues in the fields of visual arts and dance. It is complemented by performances and a zine.
Bundjalung (Australia) and Ngāpuhi (New Zealand) choreographer Amrita Hepi’s work is concerned with dance as social function and the body as a site of memory and resistance. Her performances, video works and installations are imagined for various spaces, including galleries and museums. Hepi’s work has been exhibited around the world, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), Art Central (Hong Kong/Japan), Théâtre National de Chaillot (Paris, France), and Tanz im August (Berlin, Germany).
Canadian dancer and multidisciplinary artist, Hanako Hoshimi-Caines creates performative projects around notions of the familiar, the imaginary and pleasure. Her most recent project Radio III / ᎦᏬᏂᏍᎩ ᏦᎢ–created in collaboration with Zoë Poluch and Elisa Harkins–will be presented starting fall 2022 at MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) (Montreal, Canada), PICA (Portland, USA), On the Boards (Seattle, USA), at Moderna Dansteatern (Stockholm, Sweden), and Fierce Festival (Birmingham, England).
Dominican choreographer and dancer Ligia Lewis explores the nuances of embodiment held together by the logic of interdependence, disorder, and play. She carefully considers the ways in which the site of presentation shapes the experience of the work in different venues, including theatres, galleries and museums. Over the next months, her work will be shown at Kaserne Basel (Basel, Switzerland), HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin, Germany), Cordova Gallery (Barcelona, Spain), and Wien Modern (Vienna, Austria).
Based between Montreal, New York, and Paris, the collective of dancers Lo Fi Dance Theory (LFDT), led by choreographer Wynn Holmes, develops research and creation projects that push the boundaries between artistic disciplines, between social phenomena and kinetic possibilities. Their creations take on many forms, including performance, film, design, visual art, music, and digital media. Their works are presented across Canada and abroad.
Benny Nemer is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist and researcher whose practice touches upon music, flowers, art history, performance, and queer culture. Conjuring touch trough time and space, his works have been exhibited internationally and are included the permanent collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria), the Polin Museum for the History of Polish Jews (Warsaw, Poland), the Thielska Galleriet (Stockholm, Sweden), and the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Canada).
Colombian-born Canadian choreographer Andrea Peña, director of the performing arts company Andrea Peña & Artists (AP&A), focuses on creating critical and alternative universes that consider the place of the individual within society. She was invited as a guest choreographer by the Département de danse de l’UQAM in 2021. Her works have been presented at the Attakkalari India Biennale (Bangalore, India), at the Festival Internacional de Danza Contemporánea de la Ciudad de México (Mexico City, Mexico), at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, Canada), and at the Canadian Center for Architecture (Montreal, Canada).
The work of United States-based artist Andros Zins-Browne brings together dance performances and hybrid environments at the intersection between installation, performance and conceptual dance. His practice explores the interactions between the human body, movement and matter. Zins-Browne’s works have been shown at Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), at Dance Umbrella (London, England), at the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands), and at Kaaitheater (Brussels, Belgium).
About the curators
Florence-Agathe Dubé-Moreau is an independent curator, author, and columnist. She holds a Master’s Degree in Art History from UQAM. Her practice focuses on interdisciplinary approaches and curatorial forms. Her most recent projects have been shown at the artist-run centre Regart (Lévis, 2020), Critical Distance Centre for Curators (Toronto, 2018), and Galerie de l’UQAM (Montreal, 2016). She was assistant curator for the Canadian delegation to the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). In 2020, she instigated and was artistic director of Projet Casa, a Montreal venue created during the pandemic to provide a space for exhibitions that had to be cut short or cancelled.
Maude Johnson is an author and independent curator. She holds a Master’s Degree in Art History from Concordia University and a Bachelor’s Degree from UQAM. Her research investigates performative and curatorial practices through methodologies, processes and languages within interdisciplinary approaches. Her recent projects have been presented at the artist-run center Regart (Lévis, 2020), Critical Distance Centre for Curators (Toronto, 2018), Artexte (Montreal, 2018) and at the SIGHTINGS space of the Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery (Montreal, 2016). She has been an active contributor to Esse magazine since 2015 and currently holds the position of Assistant Artistic Director for MOMENTA Biennale de l’image.
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