I haven't been a figment of my own imagination
Lili Reynaud-Dewar, The Power Structures, Rituals & Sexuality of the European Shorthand Typists 2 (video still), 2009. Courtesy of the artist and Mary Mary, Glasgow
NOVEMBER 21, 2009 to JANUARY 23, 2010
Vernissage:
Saturday, November 21, 2009 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Artists:
Aleesa Cohene
Luanne Martineau
Lili Reynaud-Dewar
Lucie Stahl
Curators:
Leisure Projects
The SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art presents I haven’t been a figment of my own imagination. For this project, the curators Meredith Carruthers and Susannah Wesley examine the heritage of the 1970s feminist art and the current practice of four artists: Aleesa Cohene, Luanne Martineau, Lili Reynaud-Dewar and Lucie Stahl. Inventing contemporary visual forms that revisit the past, these artists renew and stimulate a dialogue between feminist generations. A brochure produced to accompany the exhibition includes writing by the artists and curators.
Aleesa Cohene (Canada) diverts the Hollywood genre, appropriating excerpts of films from the 1970s and 1980s to compose a video montage that describes the tumultuous emotional overload between two women in love.
Luanne Martineau (Canada) borrows from the textile arts, revisiting the modernist aesthetic to create imposing works that dominate the space and destabilize the spectator with powerful evocations of the body.
Lili Reynaud-Dewar (France) collaborates with performers to create performances and installations that trace and examine where collaborations with several performers are used to tell complex stories that elicit an examination of the issues involved in power and identity.
Lucie Stahl (Germany) creates photo collages in which documents emblematic of the baby-boomer generation are stripped of their context; the resulting element of strangeness acts as a singular reinterpretation of this key era in the evolution of feminism.
Parallel to the exhibition, SBC invites the public to a program of events and film screenings. By creating a forum for discussion and convivial exchanges with artists and art historians who have made a contribution to the second wave of feminism, notably in Montreal, I haven’t been a figment of my own imagination provides a space for reflection on the current issues of feminism in contemporary art.
SALON I: THEN, NOW AND LATER – FEMINIST ART FROM A CURATORIAL PERSPECTIVE CATHERINE MORRIS, Curator at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 6 p.m. In English
SALON FULLY BOOKED
SALON II: THEN - FEMINIST ART, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY
CLARA GUTSCHE, Artist and founding member of La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse
ROSE MARIE ARBOUR, Art Historian
Saturday, December 5, 2009, 2 p.m. Bilingual
SALON FULLY BOOKED
SALON III: WOMEN AND AVANT-GARDE FILMMAKING
Les filles du Roy, film by Anne-Claire Poirier, 56 minutes, 1974
Je tu il elle, film by Chantal Akerman, 90 minutes, 1974
Sunday, January 17, 2010, 2 p.m.
York Amphitheatre, Concordia University
1515 Ste-Catherine W, EV-01.615
SALON IV: THEN AND NOW – FEMINIST ART HISTORY
AMELIA JONES, Art Historian, Critic and Curator
Thursday, January 21, 2010, 6 p.m. In English
SALON FULLY BOOKED
R.S.V.P. for Salons I, II and IV. Limited seating.
All the activities are offered free of charge.
The Salons will be held at SBC, with the exception of Salon III.
This series is organized in collaboration with the FOFA Gallery.