Exhibitions
The Musée d’art urbain was incorporated in September of 1997. The first manifestation of the Museum was the presentation on an outdoor structure of a work by Montréal painter Judith Berry. The Museum was then under the direction of Stéphane Brault and André Hervieux, and the piece by Judith Berry was located outside of the Mile-End Library. Through a collaboration with the City of Montréal and its Public Art Service, a major work was thus made available to the public as well as for the clients of this cultural centre.
At the end of 1999 the conception and realization of the first major exhibition began to take form but it was only in 2001 that Plein ciel saw the light of day.
- July 2001 - The first major exhibition : Plein ciel
Presented from July 1st 2001 to the 31st of July 2002, Plein ciel was the first major manifestation of works commissioned by the Musée d’art urbain for public display. The exhibition was curated by France Gascon and presented the work of six Montréal artists. Each specially commissioned work occupied a monumental support structure placed in a highly visible and publicly accessible location at some of the city’s most well-known attractions. The six sites which hosted Plein ciel for its one year run were:
Café Cherrier - Claude Tousignant
The Old Port of Montréal - Raymonde April & Clara Gutsche
The National Theatre School of Canada - Kamila Wozniakowska
The Bonsecours Market - David Blatherwick
The exhibition was widely praised by the press and also received a Prix Orange from Heritage Montréal.
- July 2002 - The second major exhibition : Silences
Presented from July 3rd 2002 to the 1st of September 2004 Silences was composed of two photographic image series’ by the Québec photographer Marie-Jeanne Musiol. Her photographs, particularly the series from around Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, spoke to another group of works she had recently undertaken which had as their subjects the ghostly pairing of two large full face portraits of a young man and an older woman. Together the seven images used by the Museum on its pre-existing structures located around the city, were particularly gripping due to the reflexiveness of each photographic subject. Silences was an exhibition that caused the viewer to look inwardly unto itself for thoughts and questions about the spaces and people we share our lives with everyday.
Scanned images from the Silences catalogue can be found here.
- September 2004 - The third major exhibition : Modello
Presented from September 2004 to July 2007 Modello featured works by Alexandre Castonguay, Pascal Grandmaison and Adad Hannah and was curated by France Gascon and co-produced with the Musée d’art de Joliette. Jo-Ann Kane was also involved in the organization.
The MAU asked three young artists working in photography and video to produce works destined for public spaces. Alexandre Castonguay, Pascal Grandmaison, and Adad Hannah created images that focused primarily on people of their generation, sometimes even themselves, in situations that proposed a reflection on the very essence of photographic art practice. The exhibition brought together themes through photographs that examined the canons and history of photography, as well as studying photography’s younger siblings: cinematography and film. Each image displayed individuals completely engrossed in an activity, which to the passer-by might seem like a questioning of the “moment” the photograph was taken and the truth and emphasis which the artists has attempted to convey about it.
Café Cherrier - Pascal Grandmaison
The Old Port of Montréal - Alexandre Castonguay & Adad Hannah