by CHRISTINE REDFERN

What better way to look back on the past year in art than through the eyes of some of Montreal’s most prominent makers? I spoke to three artists who are active in different parts of the visual arts scene to find out what inspired them in 2002. In their own shows, these people pushed beyond static art presentation and engaged the public in many different ways.

First I spoke to local interdisciplinary artist and writer Sylvie Cotton, whose artistic approach is always refreshing because of her playful nature and humour. In September she presented Suppléance (Substitution) at La Centrale. In this exhibition, instead of performing public art interventions outside of the gallery setting, she reversed the process and brought everyday life into the gallery space. A plethora of events unravelled during the month. (For a refresher, go to www.lacentrale.org and click “Sylvie Cotton” in 2002–2003 exhibitions section).

Cotton’s top three of the year in her own words: “I loved Julie Andrée T’s show, Problématique Provisoire, last March at Dare-Dare, a work that combined theatre, performance and installation,” she says. “Secondly, the paintings of Luce Meunier at Galerie Clark, because they’re intelligent paintings that talk about the act of painting. I also liked the way they were all hung on one wall of the gallery. And lastly, Janet Cardiff at the Musée d’art contemporain. I specifically liked Forty-Part Motet. The performative aspect of the work, the mix of voices - I found it was very meditative, nourishing and emotive.”

Home sweet home

Next I spoke with Marie Fraser, curator of La Demeure, an exhibition that investigated the “notion of dwelling.” This huge undertaking involved over 18 different projects by local, national and international artists presented at Optica gallery, as well as in public and private spaces throughout the city (see www.optica.ca).

Fraser had a pair of favourites from ’02. The first was Carte grise à Raymonde April, which took place in April and May at Dazibao. The annual Carte grise exhibition provides an opportunity for an artist to curate an exhibition and produce a publication. Raymonde April’s exhibition L’eau renversée (Saint-Juste-du-Lac) incorporated photographs and moving images by Patrick Coutu, Serge Murphy, Marie-Christine Simard and Charles Guilbert with some of her own. The unifying link was that all of the artists had a connection with a small Quebec village called Saint-Juste-du-Lac. What Fraser particularly liked about the exhibition was the catalogue. “It’s very beautiful, and the texts are very poetic,” she says. “There’s a wonderful rapport between the texts and the images.”

Fraser’s second pick is the Biennale de Montréal. “I both liked and disliked the Biennale,” she says. “It was a heavily criticized exhibition, but I want to highlight it because having the Biennale here is very important for Montreal. It brings together many artists, often presenting their work here for the first time and lots of people have the opportunity to see it.”

The last word on the panel comes from new media guru Luc Courchesne. Last January, Courchesne presented The Visitor: Living by Number, his interactive, 360-degree panoramic video at the SAT. (This work and many of his others can be viewed at www.din.umontreal.ca/courchesne/.)

Courchesne’s highlights of past year include: “The MUTEK festival last spring for its high quality of programming and sharp audience. It was not just about electronic music,” he notes, “but also about art, creativity and how to use those tools in a way the public can relate to. Montreal is carving out a special niche for itself with this kind of event.

“This year we also saw the coming of age of VJs,” says Courchesne. “You now see outstanding visuals, where the music used to be the driving force. And I have to mention the Kino phenomenon. It started two or three years ago, the first Monday of every month. Filmmakers and their audience, three to four hundred people, get together for an evening of video shorts. After starting in Montreal, Kino has now spread to Russia, Finland and the States.” (See www.kino00.com). •