Manif d’art, in collaboration with the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ), is proud to reveal the name of the principal curator of Manif d’art 8–Quebec City Biennial. Alexia Fabre, the Director and Chief Curator of MAC VAL (Musée d’art contemporain du Val de Marne in France), has been chosen to pilot the 8th edition of the biennial, which will be held in the winter of 2017. She will be on the artistic committee of the next biennial, joining Bernard Lamarche, the current Curator of Contemporary Art at MNBAQ, and Claude Bélanger, Executive and Artistic Director of Manif d’art. Anne-Sophie Blanchet will serve as Assistant Curator, representing emerging artists.
“The entire Biennial team, our colleagues at MNBAQ and our faithful collaborators are delighted to be able to work with a curator of such international stature,” declared Claude Bélanger. “Her experience at a major museum like MAC VAL and her innovative ideas will help to make this eighth edition truly exceptional. Already, various leading international artists have been approached. Their works, alongside those of Quebec and Canadian artists, will make Manif d’art 8 a biennial to remember!” Line Ouellet, Director and Chief Curator of MNBAQ, was equally enthusiastic: “Alexia Fabre is one of France’s leading lights. It is a real privilege to welcome her to Quebec City for the upcoming biennial of Manif d’art. She will not only infuse the event with her outstanding artistic sensibility, but will use her broad international network to benefit this great celebration of current art, whose central exhibition will be held at a world-calibre site for contemporary art: the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion.”
A theme, in tune with current international trends, quickly emerged: The Art of Joy. The title of a work by Goliarda Sapienza, The Art of Joy is a coming-of-age novel whose heroine makes happiness and self-discovery her sole mission in life. This highly charged and open-ended theme will allow the event to explore the notion of joy not in pure illustrations of the concept, but rather in the expression of its multiple facets. Through existing or new works, it will pursue and ponder this search for a specific relationship with the world, past and present, and everything underpinning it. What will result is a tension between joy and its opposite, between its radiant side and its reverse, darker side.
To express how she sees her role within the team of Manif d’art, Alexia Fabre borrowed the words of the great French artist Christian Boltanski. “When one is an artist, one is a projection of the wishes of others.”
A Canada-wide call for proposals will be launched in a press release within the next few days. Something to keep an eye on!