MONTRÉAL, Feb. 12, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - For the 15th edition of Nuit blanche à Montréal, the MAC is offering a wide range of activities in a warm and welcoming atmosphere. On the program: three exhibitions and an art workshop. Art mediators will also be present in the exhibition rooms to answer the visitors' questions. Young and old alike can discover the exhibitions of Leonard Cohen and the MAC Collection, on top of taking part in a Leonard Cohen-inspired art workshop. Additionally, the Restaurant du MAC will offer a variety of tasty bites and hot drinks to warm you up and help you forget the winter chill! On this invigorating evening, admission to the Musée will be free from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Leonard Cohen: Une brèche en toute chose / A Crack in Everything
Presented by CBC/Radio-Canada, Leonard Cohen: Une brèche en toute chose/A Crack in Everything is part of the official program for Montréal's 375th anniversary celebrations. The exhibition is inspired by the world of Leonard Cohen and the great themes of his life and work. This major exhibition is the first to be entirely devoted to the imagination and legacy of this global icon from Montréal.
Beyond the works created especially for Leonard Cohen: Une brèche en toute chose / A Crack in Everything by forty artists, the exhibition also includes innovative multimedia environments where Cohen's songs are covered and performed, as well as a survey of his archival material (writings, drawings and recordings produced over the past half-century). Six galleries are devoted to the critical celebration, loving tribute and, a year after his passing, quiet commemoration of a vast artistic achievement and inspiring life.
MAC Collection: That's How the Light Gets In
The question of light as both subject and material is vast, and compels us to rethink art in its most fundamental aspects. An essential condition for our eyes to perceive anything, light quite logically lies at the core of artists' practices and techniques. The object of reflection and representation, and a condition for the perception of any work, light is a meaningful parameter in the practice of some artists, and one that should be examined.
This portrait of the collection brings together works by Québec and Canadian artists painters, for the most part around a set of questions they were asked: How does light come into your work? How does it infuse your practice? Marie-Claire Blais, Jérôme Bouchard, Olivia Boudreau, Michel Daigneault, Pierre Dorion, Nicolas Lachance, Stéphane La Rue, Rita Letendre, Elizabeth McIntosh, Yann Pocreau, Leopold Plotek, Monique Régimbald-Zeiber, Marc Séguin, Claude Tousignant and Janet Werner all gave thought to these questions. Their responses, which are displayed along the route through the exhibition, provide insight into their highly individual approaches.
MAC Collection: The Gaze Listens
This exhibition is laid out like a conversation that commands the visitors' auditory attention, even though most of the works gathered in this new portrait of the collection are invisible to the ear, but audible to the eye. It showcases pieces by Yves Gaucher, Pascal Grandmaison, Barbara Steinman and Takis that attach obvious importance to the optic and haptic implications of the verb "listen." Viewing rhythm as an essential property of form, and viewing both sound and silence as belonging to space, this exhibition constitutes a gesture that sets out to investigate these territories.
That's How the Light Gets In and The Gaze Listens are part ofPictures for an Exhibition, an evolving cycle of exhibitions based on works from the collection and intended to generate new connections between historical works and recent acquisitions, between the different media and artists of various generations.
Art Workshop – A Poem for Cohen
Inspired by Leonard Cohen's world and work, participants in this writing and drawing workshop will be invited to invent and illustrate a poem dedicated to this great singer/songwriter and man of letters.
6 p.m. to midnight
Art mediators in exhibition rooms
Art mediators will be present in the exhibition rooms from 8:30 p.m. to midnight to answer your questions and to give you more information about the artists, their work and the exhibitions. Feel free to speak with them!
Take a break at the Restaurant du MAC
Located on the gallery level of the museum, the Restaurant du MAC will offer a variety of tasty bites and hot drinks to warm you up and fight the cold!
Acknowledgements
Regarding the Leonard Cohen: Une brèche en toute chose / A Crack in Everything exhibition, the MAC wishes to first thank Leonard Cohen, who gave his generous consent to the exhibition concept while alive. The MAC also wishes to thank the family and friends of Cohen, in particular Robert Kory, Adam Cohen and Lorca Cohen, who provided important support for the organization of this exhibition.
The MAC is pleased to be associated with local institutional partners who have generously contributed to the production of this exhibition. The MAC extends its warm thanks to CBC/Radio-Canada, the exhibition presenter and creator of exclusive content for the exhibition. CBC/Radio-Canada also made its archives available at no charge to the artists creating work for this project.
The MAC also wishes to thank its exhibition partners: DeSerres, Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) and the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).
Co-curatorial partners provided specific support in the realization of this exhibition. The MAC wishes to thank the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), which also made their full archives available free-of charge to the artists. The work I Heard There Was a Secret Chord was created by Daily tous les jours. It is a Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal/National Film Board of Canada and Daily tous les jours co-production. The concert series Leonard Cohen : 5 concerts / 5 albums was produced in collaboration with POP Montréal.
The MAC thanks Sony Music and Sony ATV for granting permission to use the songs and archival video material of Leonard Cohen to the artists and for the purpose of the exhibition.
The MAC greatly appreciates the contribution of partners who directly supported the creation of artworks by the artists: Goethe-Institut (Candice Breitz), Spotify (Daily tous les jours), Audio Z (George Fok), Consulate General of Israel in Montreal and the Swiss Institute (Ari Folman), as well as Lytro (Zach Richter).
The MAC is a provincially owned corporation funded by the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec. It receives additional funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts. The MAC also thanks its partners Loto-Québec and Ubisoft Montréal, and its media partners La Presse and Publicité sauvage.
Finally, the Musée sincerely thanks the following for their generous support: The Azrieli Foundation, the Stephen and Lillian Vineberg Family Foundation, Nick Tedeschi and Sal Guerrera, and Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation.
En lien avec Tableau* d'une exposition, le Musée remercie le ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec pour une subvention obtenue dans le cadre du Programme de soutien aux expositions permanentes permettant la réalisation de ce projet.
Regarding Pictures for an Exhibition, the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal is grateful to Québec's Ministère de la Culture et des Communications for a grant provided under its program to support permanent exhibitions, which has made this project possible.
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
Located in the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles, the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal makes today's art a vital part of Montréal and Québec life. For more than fifty years, this vibrant museum has brought together local and international artists, their works and an ever growing public. It is also a place of discovery, offering visitors experiences that are continually changing and new, and often unexpected and stirring. The Musée presents temporary exhibitions devoted to outstanding and relevant current artists who provide their own, particular insight into our society, as well as exhibitions of works drawn from the museum's extensive Permanent Collection. They may feature every form of expression: digital and sound works, installations, paintings, sculptures, ephemeral pieces, and more. In addition to its wide range of educational activities familiarizing the general public with contemporary art, the Musée organizes unique artistic performances and festive events. It is a window onto a myriad of avant-garde expressions that extend the reach of art throughout the city and beyond.
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