The Catalog of Futures is a two-part exhibition of works by Stéphane Gilot. The first part of the show features a series of art and musical performances while the second consists of rehanging works from MAJ’s collection in a gallery constructed by the artist for this purpose as well as their rearrangement through the intervention of another artist in residence. In a major show punctuated by performances and interventions which will enrich and alter the content of the work, Gilot, a well-known multimedia artist, uses drawing, models and video recordings to create immersive installations that make the history of the museum come alive for the visitor.
The Museum as Laboratory
The idea for the The Catalog of Futures, a meditation on what is a museum, came to Montreal artist of Belgian origin Stéphane Gilot during his research residency at the MAJ while the museum was closed for major renovations (2012-2015). His intervention, however, is much more radical than mere reflection: it is a reconstruction of the museum by way of original architectural installations through which visitors are invited to walk.
The work follows a self-referential logic that replays, reflects upon and rediscovers the history of the MAJ by building a model on a scale of 1 : 0.5 of the auditorium which, in 1976, occupied the basement and has since been made over into a storage area, by building a model that projects the museum into the future or by putting on view works from the museum’s collection in a gallery built to last the time of the exhibition, a recurrent theme in Gilot’s work.
A Living Exhibition
The Catalog of Futures is a research field alive with the traces left by different interventions, which have become components of the show. The six months duration of the exhibition was chosen by design. The many collaborations featured in the program intend to offer the visitor different ways of experiencing the show. Also, these interventions are an invitation to come back to look at how the work has changed over time. For the museum, this project was an unusual and most welcome occasion to become intimately involved in the development of an art work, to support actively the creative process and to foster a fruitful exchange between the museum staff and the artist. Usually the museum does its research before an exhibition. Here visitors are invited to watch the research process and even to participate in it by attending performances and QA with the artists.
Stéphane Gilot’s multi-media approach extends to featuring a program of performances by artists of his choice: The Musée d’art de Joliette Choir, Belinda Campbell, Sophie Breton and k.g. Guttman.
The Collections Are Back!, an international conference organized by the CIÉ/CO research group under the direction of art historian Joanne Lamoureux will be part of the program. Participants include MAJ’s Annie Gauthier and Marie-Claude Landry, Canadian art historian Reesa Greenberg and other well-known art historians and critics.
Part One: February 26 – May 29, 2016
Part Two: June 5 – September 4, 2016
Artist-curator: Stéphane Gilot
Co-curator: Marie-Claude Landry
Performances
Performances are followed by Q & A with the artist.
Sophie Breton
Sunday, May 8, 2016, 3 p.m.
Belinda Campbell
Sunday, May 15, 2016, 3 p.m.
k.g. Guttman
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Artist in residence
Caroline Boileau, August 3-7, 2016
Biography
Stéphane Gilot
A native of Belgium, Stéphane Gilot has lived and worked in Montreal since 1996. Notable solo exhibitions include Pièce pour cinq interprètes, lumière rose et silence presented at the 12th Havana Biennial (2015), the Espace 221 and at Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain (2014); Mes plaisirs sont plus sombres que les tiens at AxeNeo7 (2013); MULTIVERSITÉ/Métacampus, at Galerie de l’UQÀM (2012); Séjour Bistre, at L’Œil de poisson (2011); The Performative City, at Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2012) and Optica (2010); Le buvard du monde, at Occurrence (2010); Cineplastic Campus, at Blackwood Gallery (2008); La Station, at Oboro (2006); and Videogame, at Paul Petro Contemporary Art (Toronto, 2005). Group shows include Reverse Pedagogy, at Model Arts and Niland Gallery (Sligo, Ireland, 2009) and the Quebec Triennale 2008, at Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.
The artist holds an MA in visual and media arts from the University of Québec in Montreal. The installations MULTIVERSITÉ/Métacampus as well as The Performative City have recently been acquired by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.