I can’t remember when I came across this idea – it may have been something I saw during the month of April, which is National Poetry Month. It’s so simple, it’s brilliant: stack books in such a way that the book spines read like a poem.

Soon I started pulling books from my shelves, creating small heaps of verbs, sentence fragments, and exclamations. Here is what I came up with. I hope this will inspire you to do the same, send me some photos if you do!

Ghada Amer at the MAC

There are three strong female voices reverberating through the halls of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal: Ghada Amer (Egypt, New York), Valérie Blass (Montreal), and Wangechi Mutu (Kenya) are showing their most recent work in three concurrent solo shows at the MACM. Each artist works in her own medium and style, each has her own story to tell, but what unites all three of them is a strong use of materiality, the exploration of the human form, and a subtle sense of eroticism.

Ghada Amer paints with coloured threads, which she stitches and drips across her canvases reminiscent of the work of Jackson Pollock. But her seemingly chaotic, abstract works hide a sensual surprise. Look through the tangle of threads, and delicately stitched female figures emerge, floating in the background in vaguely pornographic poses.

The sculptures of Valérie Blass also focus on the body, but the artist blurs the line between classical figuration and contemporary assembly. Impossible creatures morph with random objects, iconic historical sculptures mutate into grotesque beasts. Charming, creepy, and often humorous, Blass’ works simultaneously delight and perplex.

Wangechi Mutu‘s installations and video projections are breathtaking. In her work the female body is idealized, fragmented, violated, morphed. Mutu’s work is political without being ham-fisted. Her sculptural pieces, such as Moth Girls, are visually seductive but also viscerally disturbing. Her materials range from felt (a reference to refugee camps in Africa) to glitter curtains, steeped in mystical symbolism.

I took some video footage during the press conference and produced a short clip of the current exhibition.

Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
Ghada Amer | Valérie Blass | Wangechi Mutu
February 2 – April 22, 2012
www.macm.org

It’s official: I’m now a published author. After writing The Belgo Report for three years I realized that I had – quite by accident – written a book. Well, kind of a book. It’s all online, quite ephemeral, a weekly cascade of art reviews flowing across the computer screen. But after receiving so many positive comments over the years, I decided that it was time to step it up and create a more permanent record of my writing.

So The Belgo Report, Edition 1 – Highlights from 2008 – 2011 was born. The book features some of my favourite solo shows of the last three years in the galleries of the Belgo building. Each gallery of the Belgo is represented with a double-page spread – the review on one page, an artwork on the opposite page. The 64-page softcover edition is being printed by Maison Kasini, who have a lot of experience producing short runs of art books. They are also located in the Belgo, and I love the idea of the entire book being produced in-house.

For more details about the book, and a link to purchase it online, click here.

I published the book myself, which means I’m now Visual Voice Publications with my own ISBN number and all. Exciting stuff! This is also going to come in handy later, because I’m thinking of publishing a few catalogues of artists I’m going to represent at Visual Voice Gallery. And for up-coming editions of the Belgo Report Book, of course.

There is a launch party planned for the Belgo Report Book Edition 1
Saturday, February 4, 2012
starting at 3:00 p.m.
Visual Voice Art Gallery
space 421
Belgo Building
372, Ste-Catherine West
Montreal

Come on by!

What a great way to start the new year! The first exhibition at Visual Voice Art Gallery was a workshop with my friend Melanie Matthews. We had already worked together last year, when Melanie booked Visual Voice for her Fusion Infusion atelier and exhibition. This time around her theme was self-portraiture, and her list of materials was challenging: a body-length mirror, several pieces of plexiglas, an large wooden frame of untreated pine, and her usual bucket-loads of acrylic gels of all kinds.

We were a group of six artists, and for three days the gallery was transformed into a creative hot-house. The space was crammed full with tables and art materials, photocopies of all sized were pinned on the walls, drawings and palettes littered the floor. By day two an eerie creative silence filled the gallery, as everyone focused on their artworks.

I’ve uploaded a set of photos taken during the workshop onto the Visual Voice Blog.

For my own piece I wanted to express the concept of impermanence and chance – a kind of “to be or not to be” piece. I chose to transfer my portrait directly onto the mirror (which was very hard to do, the gel kept rubbing off!). I drew cloud chamber particle tracks on the large piece of plexiglas and superimposed it on my face. Finally, I Photoshopped a photo of my cat Hoover – a stand-in for Schrödinger’s Cat – and created a cat-kaleidoscope, which I mounted at the bottom of the frame.

Cat-leidoscope

I’m quite happy with my final piece, even though there are a few spots I needed to retouche.

Schrödinger's Cat

Heidi and Me at the AGAC Gala

Finally! Quebec’s visual artists now have their very own award gala. The Association des Galeries d’Art Contemporain (AGAC) organized the Gala des arts visuels which took place on December 13, 2011 at the glamorous Rialto Theatre. I rummaged in my closet for an evening dress and heels, and met with my friends Heidi and Rhonda to check out the who-is-who of the local art world.

It was a typical award ceremony with speeches, slick graphics, and a few musical interludes. I wrote a review of the evening for The Belgo Report, check out the article here.

To give you a flavour of the glitzy event, here is a set of photos I took during the evening.

This was really only the second mega-concert I’ve ever been to. My first super-sized concert was in Hamburg with my sister, we saw Bruce Springsteen from waaaay up in the bleachers. Though the atmosphere was great, Bruce looked much like a singing microbe, and I gazed longingly at the mosh pit.

Entering the Hippodrome

So when my friend Avigail offered me a spare ticket to the U2 360 Montreal concert I was hoping to get a little closer to the action. It helps that Avigail is a totally chill girl, easy-going and unflappable, and up for hanging out in the line-up at the general admission gates for an hour or so. Good thing I brought a towel (one of the few items that were not on the organizer’s Do Not Bring list). We spread out on the ground and just toasted in the fierce summer sun. About 80,000 fans quietly melted away with us at the Montreal Hippodrome. I’d like take a moment for a shout-out to the Montreal fans – what a mellow crowd. No bitching, no pushing, no stressing, everyone just hung out together, like a massive picnic with limited, overpriced food (small water bottle: $4.50, can of Coke: $5.00, beer: $7.00 – you get the idea).

The wait was worth it – once the gates opened we sauntered into the field and scored ourselves a place barely 40 meters from the stage. Awesome!

It made all the difference to be that close. Avigail and I were right underneath the massive spider-like structure which towered over the circular stage. And when the opening act came on we realized we had the best seats in the house – you could really see the band! Not a microbe in sight!

Here’s a 360 panorama of the Hippodrome from where we were standing (I did a 360 panorama of the 360 tour!)

U2 appeared on stage as the sun set, bringing the fans to their feet. The spider lit up with a gigantic video screen, and projected close-ups of the bands and other video content – you know, for the people waay up in the bleachers. U2 were fantastic, and Bono’s slightly overbearing hero swagger really works when he’s on stage. He owns the room. The room with the 80,000 people in it. They played all their greatest hits, from It’s a Beautiful Day, to Sunday, Bloody Sunday, and my absolute favourite Vertigo. Of course I took miles and miles of video footage, and I hope I’ll have time soon to edit it all together. It was an electric performance. At various points Bono invited people from the mosh pit onto the stage: once a Sikh man who was very game and energetic and sang with Bono into the mike, and then a little boy of maybe 8 years whom he serenaded. There were – as expected – references to Bono’s political activism, such as his One campaign (to with Avi and I signed up while we were waiting to get into the arena) and to Amnesty International and its successes.

The spider - screen

The screen turns into a light cage

Overall it was a truly awesome show. I don’t even mind that it took me three hours to get home (there was a massive line up to even get into the metros, and we walked around for ages trying to find a cab and finally took the bus to Jean-Talon. Oh well).

The 360 concert was an all-round success.

Remember when the first music videos came out? How cool where they! We were glued to the TV screen watching our favourite music stars appear in mini movies with quirky narratives, special effects, and fast edits. Cinematographers played with the new medium with abandon, and there seemed to be no bounds to their creativity. But as time passed and music videos became de rigeur they slowly lost their edge, becoming formulaic, predictable, slick. I really haven’t sat down to watch music videos in years.

I should have. I totally missed the phenomenon Louis Philippe Eno appear on the video scene. Since Eno graduated from Concordia University he has produced over 100 music videos in less than a decade. He has garnered several awards for his unique creativity and recently caught the eye of Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal curator Louise Simard. As part of the MACM’s Music Video series she has selected seven videos which represent the breadth of Eno’s œuvre. I watched the reel during yesterday’s press conference, and the 40-minute screening felt like 15 minutes. It helps that the music is good: Les Trois Accords, Dumas, Malajube, Pierre Lapointe, Plants and Animals, and Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse in a project realized with film maker David Lynch.

Here is a video I shot during the press conference showing excerpts from the reel, with a short interview with Eno at the end:

Eno steers away from the predictable formula of “band on stage with interwoven side-story” and enjoys approaching a project completely sideways. For example, the Les Trois Accords video Saskatchewan doesn’t feature a hint of narrative related to the song. Instead a group on black-clad ninjas pose in katas and break props (the ninjas turn out to be the band members in the end). And the video for Étienne d’Août by Malajube is a short cinematic piece featuring a Viking burial with production values equal to any Lord of the Rings movie.

My suggestion: this summer make a bee-line for the MACM and chill out in their screening room downstairs. Eno’s Vidéomusique reel loops all day during the museum’s opening hours from June 8 until August 4, 2011.

Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
Projections
Vidéomusique | Music Video
Louis Philippe Eno
June 8 until August 4, 2011
www.macm.org

I love working in the Quartier des Spectacles! With the Belgo building just a stone’s throw away from Place-des-arts, I can hear the rhythms of the Francofolies and the Jazz Fest waft through my open studio window. There is always a public artwork installed in my neighbourhood, be it the Sphères Polaires or the 21 Swings. It’s great to be surrounded by art!

So when I was invited to give an interview for the Quartier des Spectacle’s blog NUM@QDS_TML I was chuffed. Marie-Pierre Bouchard quizzed me on my views regarding digital arts, inspiration, the future of art and technology, and Montreal in general. They were some of the most interesting questions I’ve been asked during an interview. The interview is up on their blog now (en français) at www.quartierdesspectacles.com

Last night I spent six hours at Café Campus to see the the Fringe-for-All event, which marks the launch of the Montreal Fringe festival. About 50 acts got the chance to pitch their show within a strictly enforced two-minute time frame (once their time expired the lights were dimmed and the mike was cut!). It was a great opportunity to mark the favourites on your program and decide what you want – or not want – to watch. This year’s Fringe Festival is the biggest ever with 30 venues, 500 artists and 700 performances, and when I first leafed through the program the task of making any kind of choice seemed absolutely impossible. But after my Fringe-for-All marathon I feel I can make a few recommendations.

To give you a general idea of what’s on offer I shot some video during the event (yay press pass!). Here are the evening’s highlights:

A few suggestions of what you may want to check out:

Robby Hoffman‘s show looks very funny. Her stand-up routine was sharp and witty, and I rather agree with her views on men’s balls. Equally hilarious is Andrea Stanford‘s Verbal Diary-ah, where she reads excerpts from her actual teenage diary. It’s, like, so OMG cool. The troupe Collectif de danse l’Analogie presented an amusing snippet from their improv dance show Reciprok. More elaborate was the dance and theatre production Who is Aristippus by the Pirate Panda Company, which involved pirates, robots and steam punk. I really loved the melodic, simple sounds of the Naledi Project – just guitar and voice, but all soul. Red Rose Production‘s Buddha and the Rock Star was a pretty raunchy number featuring a troupe of lingerie-clad dancers. A real crowd-pleaser was the 80s-themed Hair Nation Party, which is an air-guitar competition where 80s concept metal costumes are strongly encouraged. The clown trio Les Trois Garçons‘ act Soir de Première was surprisingly funny (I’m not usually into clowns); one of the actors reminded me a lot of Mr. Bean. On a very different note, Crossroads from JingJu Productions features traditional Chinese acrobatics, music, and the most splendid costumes. And if you like all things Asian, make sure to check out the very cheeky musical play Manga by Belzébrute which pokes fun at martial arts movies. The Horrific Historical Hysterical Walking Tour by On the Spot looked, well, hysterical – I hope that there’s really a life-sized Beaker muppet leading the tour! Last but not least, don’t miss Body Slam by Still Milking the New Sacred Cow. I was reminded of Gil Scott-Heron as the jazzy vibes mixed with poetry and break-dancing.

Overall, I think this promises to be a fun edition of the Fringe. I’m pleasantly surprised at the quality of the acts – after all, the Fringe concept allows anyone to take part in the festival on a first-come-first-served basis. I saw nothing cringe-worthy last night, every artist was honest, enthusiastic, and ready to go. Looks like I’ll have a very busy June.

The Montreal Fringe Festival
May 30 – June 19, 2011
http://montrealfringe.ca

You know it’s summer in Montreal when festival season kicks in. Not that it’s been all that summery lately with temperatures hovering in the teens and that never-ending rain (I actually put the oven on to heat my apartment last week), but the word “festival” evokes memories of free concerts, sweaty crowds, and mangoes on a stick. So, I’m delighted that the Festival Transamerique is now in full swing and Montreal’s Place-des-arts is cordoned off for the up-coming attractions.

This weekend we were treated to Sylvain Émard’s Le Continental XL, an outdoor dance show with 200 dancers aged from 12 to 72. Most of the dancers are amateurs, and the skill-levels reach from “two left feet” to “born to the rhythm”. But what all participants of Le Continental have in common is a joy of dance, and this is immediately evident as soon as the flood lights are switched on. As the dancers poured into the Place des Festivals they were already cheering, and as soon as they arranged themselves into their formation they electrified the crowd. Under changing coloured lights they danced to anything from Hip Hop to Swing, and at the finale of the half-hour piece even the Place des Festival’s fountains erupted into multi-hued geysers.

Here is a video with some of the highlights of the event:

Le Continental is the brain-child of choreographer Sylvain Émard, who is widely known for his twenty-year career in contemporary dance. His body of work is much more serious and sophisticated than the funky line-dancing routines he choreographs for Le Continental. I had a chance to speak with Émard last November when he worked on a smaller version of Le Continental on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his dance company (listen to Episode 84 of the Movement Museum). He explained to me that initially Le Continental had been a small side project which he had created just for fun, and that as soon as the inaugural Continental was presented he already had a waiting list of hundreds of people who wanted to participate. And his waiting list keeps growing; a testament to the success of the project.

I think the reason why this concept works so well is that it based on fun. It is fun to dance as a group, it is fun to watch, and it is also fun to choreograph, which is why Émard keeps producing his Continentals. “After twenty years in the business dancing can become just a job to you,” said Émard in my interview,”This project brought the joy of dance back into my life.”

If you’re thinking of adding your name to the waiting list, be aware that taking part in Le Continental is a serious commitment. I’ve seen Émard train with his dancers – he doesn’t cut corners just because he’s working with amateurs. He takes every participant seriously, and he expects them to take the learning of the dance routines equally seriously. No short-cuts, no excuses – and no cheat sheet. You practice until the choreography is firmly lodged in your head. Typically that means ten sessions of two hours at his dance studio before you’re ready to perform.

But from what I saw last night the effort is worth it. Seeing 200 dancers in unison (more or less) was an inspiring sight, especially because some of the participants were quite average dancers. It made you think “If he can do it, so can I!” Now I wonder what’s next for Émard. Can he top the XL version? I saw the Très Grand Continental with 120 dancers at last year’s FTA, and I must say that the choreography was more interesting and varied with the slightly smaller group (I reviewed that edition in Episode 67 of the Movement Museum). He may have hit the limit of how many people he can teach to perform all at once. But hey, you never know – next year we may see the Mega-Continental engulf the entire Place-des-arts.

In the meantime I’m considering to put my name on that waiting list. I’m ready to go dancing in the street!