All inclusive

The next generation of artists are out in full
force at Concordia’s Art Matters

CROCHETED CANADIAN CONTENT:
“Doughnuts” by Emily Comeau

by STACEY DEWOLFE

Montreal is a city of festivals. Rarely does a week go by that doesn’t bring some new celebration of arts and culture to the fore. But of all the events to enliven the city during these seemingly interminable winter months, there is none quite as unique as Art Matters—Canada’s largest student-run art fest.

Kicking off Feb. 26 with a vernissage and dance party at Bain Mathieu (2915 Ontario E.), the two-week festival provides ample opportunity to check out the exemplary work of over 150 emerging artists: all Concordia undergraduate students. And with the exception of the opening night party with its suggested $5 donation, everything at the festival is totally free.

HISTORIC INK: “Les Fourmis” by Simon Drouin

Founded in 2000 by a group of undergraduates with a desire to showcase the high-calibre work being produced by their peers, Art Matters celebrates its ninth anniversary with a new production team at the helm. Selected by the previous year’s committee, the four students oversee the administration of the festival, and are responsible for putting together the 30-person curatorial team. “We pick the curators,” explains co-producer in charge of media relations, Matt Goerzen, “but have no control over which artists end up in the festival. We see our job as creating a framework. We play as minimal an organization role as we can, and let things grow from there.”

That the festival operates in such a democratic manner was part of its original mandate. “One of the main ideas of Art Matters is that it be as non-elitist and inclusive as possible,” says Goerzen. But it’s not a free-for-all. “Not everybody gets exhibited. We still try to show quality work. The goal is to be a microcosm of the real world. Not everyone who applies for something is going to get chosen for it.” What matters is that everyone be offered the same consideration.

EVOLUTION: “Crabhands” by Daniela Roessler

Taxidermy trendy?

One of the artists to be featured at the festival is fourth year student Logan Caldbeck, whose photograph, TITLE TK, graces this week’s cover. Taken from a series entitled Foodstuffs, the work stems from Caldbeck’s time documenting different aspects of hunting culture in Vermont and Texas. “I’m interested in how people’s interactions with nature contribute to their identity,” says Caldbeck. “In my photographs, I want to show people’s desire to believe in and align themselves with a romanticized vision of the natural world, to look at the desire people have to go after what they consider to be an authentic experience with nature.”

Both humorous and compelling, Caldbeck’s images speak not only to her themes, but also resonate as a timely commentary on the growing popularity of taxidermy in contemporary hipster circles. Though the craze hasn’t quite caught on in Montreal, a recent tour of happening joints in Brooklyn, Chicago and Baltimore suggests that an obsession with all things shot, stuffed and mounted is reaching towards its apex.

DEFINITELY NOT THE BEGINNING: “Lee” by Brik Osberg

Caldbeck’s work can be seen in a group show entitled Les Irrégularités at Galerie Artefacto (661 Rose-de-Lima)—an old machine shop in St-Henri that has been converted into gallery space. Curated by Chloé Desjardins and Frédéric Barrette, the show—which has its vernissage on March 10 and runs until the 20th—is a perfect example of the festival’s adventurous spirit.

“The main idea was to push the limits of the gallery space,” explains Barrette. “First of all, the art we chose is composed of objects, animals and other entities taken out of their normal environments. That’s our idea of the fantastical. Then we took these art pieces out of their habitual context and signification by creating a massive installation with them.”

Despite the production team’s decision to provide interested artists with a list of the curators’ proposed themes, students submitting work are essentially going in blind. But as Goerzen explains, “If the work is good, the curators try to include it, or alter their themes—it’s a pretty dynamic process.”

Artist as intern

Bridget Moser, who is curating an event called The Beginning/The End to coincide with Nuit Blanche on Saturday, Feb. 28, agrees. “The process of putting it together has certainly been an interesting one. Since the theme—the impulse towards acts of making or doing in the face of total annihilation—is so specific, I invited as many people as possible to make work specifically for the show and told them to go anywhere they wanted with it. As a result, it’s been pretty unpredictable since ideas are liable to change drastically from day to day. But it’s also been pretty exciting, and I can honestly say that no one knows what it’s going to be like.”

In the end, what seems to matter most is the opportunities the festival affords to all participants. As Caldbeck puts it, Art Matters is “a bridge between Concordia and the city, an opportunity to have my photographs seen by a wider audience.” And as Goerzen confirms, this is specifically what the festival’s original organizers set out to achieve.

“A lot of programs have internships and things like that, but if you’re an art student, you can’t intern your work into a gallery. We try to play that role for artists.”

ART MATTERS FEB. 27–MARCH 15 AT
LOCATIONS AROUND THE CITY SEE
ARTMATTERS.CONCORDIA.CA/
2009SHOWS.HTML
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