Swan Lake

The Perm Opera Ballet
in collaboration with
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens

February 22 - 26, 2017

The Montreal was presented with a unique opportunity to host the most iconic classical ballet Swan Lake, produced by Russia's The Perm Opera Ballet company. Only 5 days are allotted to this event, staged to sold out audiences at the Place des Arts' largest hall Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier.

One can truly refer to the Swan Lake's visit to Montreal as "From Russia with Love". It is a romantic and enchanting love story, unfortunately, with tragic consequences. Yet the very final scene of this version choreographed by Natalia Makarova, the great Russian prima-ballerina and choreographer, offers a true understanding that regardless of circumstances, Love is always a winner at the end.

This ballet is a candy to the eye. Those of you who will have a chance to see it, should consider yourselves lucky. It is very seldom that one gets a chance to see a traditional, classical ballet. In the present dance world, the modern and mixed dance styles are in vogue. Yet the precisely executed ballet steps and figurations offer the images of grace and elegance that no other dance types could offer. The classical ballet is the superb vehicle to express the most tender and highest aspirations of the human soul, and to contrast them to the dark forces in our collective reality and imagination. 

The Russian ballet school produces dancers that surprise with their excellence of technique, physical performance and stamina, and most of all, with the overall artistic effect they deliver. They not only create visual, sculptural shapes and forms with their bodies, gestures, and the fluidity of their movements, but also conjure an emotional impact. They are outstanding masters in projecting greatest emotions that far surpass their physical presence and their dance movements on the stage.

The choreography of this ballet is superb, the stage design enchanting, the rhythms and the flow of the dance and of the story line are precisely timed, and the gamut of colour combinations very expressive. The swan's white skirts are so brightly white that they stand out as if floating through the space all on their own, as if no effort at all was exerted by the ballerinas. It is in these type of details that the mastery of the performance reveals itself, and one becomes grateful for having had a chance of seeing it.

The classical ballet is never only a visual construct or a physical dance performance, the music is equally of crucial importance. The Swan Lake is most loved also as the timeless musical masterpiece of Russian great composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. His musical score in Montreal is performed by the Les Grands Ballets Orchestra, conducted by Valery Platonov, a winner of the Golden Mask national prize of Russia.

The Swan Lake, the time-defying story of romance and tragedy, should be seen by everybody at least once in the lifetime. It offers a unique peek into the creative artistic heritage we all collectively posses, and illuminates the aspirations and desires the humanity has for the artistic and emotional truth, beauty, grace, and the free expression of love and individual's choices.

The Swan Lake ballet was created in 1876. The version presented in Montreal premièred in Perm in 2005.

Video clip of Swan Lake, The Perm Opera Ballet

MMFA 2017 - Adel Abdessemed

CONFLICT

February 16 - May 7, 2017

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is presenting an immersive work by Franco-Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed entitled CONFLICT. Surrounding visitors on all sides, this installation features a group of 31 black chalk drawings of life-sized military figures with their guns drawn.

An additional drawing, Cri (2007) - see just above to the left - was created by the artist especially for this project. It was inspired by the Nick Ut’s famous Vietnam War photograph of the “Napalm Girl” taken following a napalm attack in 1972. 

That Nick Ut's photo shown just above has won World Press Photo competition acclaim. The naked running girl burned by the napalm and screaming from pain is Kim Phuc. She is presently a UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador, and has been living in Canada since 1994.

In his work, Adel Abdessemed question violence and the symbolism of war images. The artist conjures from our memories an iconic photograph and allies himself with civilian victims of war and refugees. “I don’t talk, I don’t write, I scream,” he declared.

The work attempts to put a visitor into a situation when a civilian would feel total terror of being encircled by aggressive-looking, armed solders. But the true realism of such a setting is not conjured sufficiently realistically or strongly, and it remains largely an intellectual experience. It lucks the immediacy of visceral horror that people must feel in similar real situations. Nevertheless, the installation succeeds in making people to ponder on such situations and to feel a true aversion towards war, aggression, and any atrocity. 

This installation is part the Year for Peace at the Museum, a vast programme of activities and exhibitions launched in November 2016.

About Adel Abdessemed

A French national, Adel Abdessemed was born in 1971 in Constantine, Algeria. He trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Batna, then in Algiers and Lyons. His work has been shown at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Parasol UnitFoundation for Contemporary Art, London. In 2012, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, hosted a major retrospective of his work. In 2015, he took part in the 56th Venice Biennale. His work can be found in prestigious collections, including the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain in Geneva, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Fondation François Pinault in Venice and the Fondation Yuz in Shanghai.

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For more information about the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions and activities, visit the museum's website.

Art Souterrain 2017

Art Souterrain 2017
Edition 9

March 4 - 26, 2017

Art Souterrain (Underground Art) presents the 9th edition of its annual contemporary art festival. This year's theme is Play and Distraction. This visual arts festival—the only one of its kind in North America—will kick off on Saturday, March 4, 2017 during Montreal's Nuit blanche, and over the following three weeks will offer 45 activities: commented visits, conferences, and artist meet-and-greets.

Festival-goers will discover works by more than 60 Québec, Canadian and international artists and collectives, on display in nine buildings of Montreal's Underground City (all connected by underground passages). Some of the works will be additionally displayed at seven satellite venues. Performances, installations, interactive videos, photographs, and sculptures will dot this extensive artistic trail, whose works will reflect this year's theme, Play and Distraction.

Access to the exhibition trail and to all festival activities is free of charge, with the exception of the guided visits ($5) and the Focus visits ($10, or $7 for students).

UNDERGROUND TRAIL

This trail is the most popular with the Montrealers. It will be winding through these locations:

Central Station, 1000 de la Gauchetière
Place Bonaventure (only during the evening of Montreal's Nuit blanche)
Place de la Cité internationale-OACI
Place Victoria
World Trade Centre Montréal
Édifice Jacques-Parizeau (formerly Centre CDP Capital)
Palais des Congrès de Montréal
Guy-Favreau Complex (closed on weekends 18-19 March and 25-26 March 2017).

SATELLITE TRAIL

Wil cover these locations:

Arsenal Contemporary Art

Artur Zmijewski | Julie Chaffort | February 21 to March 26

2020 William. (Georges-Vanier or Lionel-Groulx metro)

Centre d’exposition de l’Université de Montréal

François Kathrin Lagacé, Xavier Ménard and Patrick Saint-Denis | March 2–25

2940 chemin de la Côte Sainte-Catherine, Pavillon de la Faculté de l’aménagement, room 0056. (Université-de-Montréal metro)

Dawson College Art Gallery

Five Tricks to Win a Race Against Marina Abramovic | February 15 to March 28

Katherine Parthimos, Alexia McKindsey, Matthew Thomson, Hugo Nadeau, Guillaume Bourdon, Paolo Pedercini, Melanie Matthews, Olivia Turchinyak, Emily Spooner, Mark Jenkins

4001 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., room 2 G.0. (Atwater metro)

Espace d’exposition UBISOFT

Jason Cantoro | Montreal's Nuit blanche | March 4, 6 p.m.–1 a.m.

5480 Saint-Dominique. (Laurier metro)

Never Apart

Jaywalking, Dries Depoorter | January 26 to April 9

7049 Saint-Urbain. (De Castelnau metro)

ELLEPHANT

Jean-Pierre Gauthier: Jeu et Diversion | February 25 to April 1

1201 Saint-Dominique. (Saint-Laurent metro)

OBORO

Skawennati: Le monde de demain | February 4 to March 18

4001 Berri, room 301. (Sherbrooke metro)

Concordia University

EV Building, room EV-1.605, 1515 Sainte-Catherine W. (Atwater metro)

ABOUT ART SOUTERRAIN

Since 2009, ART SOUTERRAIN has been attracting large audiences and turning them on to contemporary art through its eponymous festival, unique in North America, held annually in Montreal's Underground City.

The festival takes art outside conventional venues and into the public space, breathing life into this original part of Montreal's architectural heritage as it showcases the diverse practices and modes of expression of artists from the Québec, Canadian and international scenes. Beginning with the 2016 edition, the festival has enhanced the artistic experience of visitors thanks to the

addition of a satellite trail comprised of partner cultural venues.

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PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Programming, activities and audioguide: www.artsouterrain.com

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | #artsouterrain17

PAC 2017- Hello, Montreal!

Hello, Montreal!

Bell's Historical Collection

February 17, 2017 - January 6, 2019

This is the first, new, 2017 temporary exhibition at Pointe-à-Callière (PAC - the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History), presented in collaboration with Bell, Canada's the very first and still the largest telecommunication company. The Exhibition looks at the evolution and the role telephony plays in our lives. It also focuses on development of the telephone gadgets and their design not only from the technical but also from the aesthetic point of view.

Francine Lelièvre, Executive Director of Pointe-à-Callière, stated: 

"For the Montréal's 375^th anniversary, we decided to unveil an exhibition looking at the development of telephony over more than 140 years, from a Montréal point of view. Technological innovations have shaped the way we communicate and contribute to our city’s growth. Pointe-à-Callière is proud to retrace the development of telephony in such striking fashion, and we thank Bell most sincerely for making it possible to access its invaluable private Collection."

 The exhibition takes visitors on a journey lasting more than 140 years, tracing the evolution of telephony. It begins with the birth of Alexander Graham Bell’s first concepts of how to transmit sounds and speech at a distance,  and follows technological advances leading up a new way of interacting: the wired network, and the much later giant step of introducing fibre optics. Visitors will also learn about the people who contributed to the development of telephony, particularly in Montreal, highlighting the city's historical role in the development of the telephone communication.

The exhibition various themes examine the development of communications networks, mobile telephony and its influence on today’s lifestyles, and the future of communications. Visitors will see all this history and will be also encouraged to think about their own use of the telephone and its central role in their lives as they learn about how technological advances over the decades have changed the way we communicate.

The exhibition presents many historical photos and interesting artefacts.

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For more information about the museum and its 2017 program activities, visit the PAC Museum's website.

Centaur Theatre 2017: BAKERSFIELD MIST

Centaur Theatre /48th Season
January 31 - February 26, 2017

The Canadian Premiere
In association with The Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver

Written by Stephen Sachs
Directed by Roy Surette

The play, inspired by true events, was a hit both in London’s West End and in Los Angeles. For its run in Montreal, the Centaur Theatre reunites two outstanding actors: Nicola Cavendish (who acted in Shirley Valentine, The Goodnight Bird, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again) with her co-star of ten years ago, the multi-talented composer, pianist, lyricist, writer and actor, Jonathan Monro, who is making his Centaur debut in his newly adopted hometown Montreal.

The play explores the topic of the intrinsic value of art, its meaning, what constitutes a work of art, the high price tag attached to some works, why such works are venerated by ceratin people, especially the art world. Who and how decides that a work of art is superbe and higher in quality than thousands of other artistic expressions? Certainly not the regular public. How are those who evaluate art - the art connaisseurs - made, what influences their judgement of a work of art? Can one find real gems at a junkyard sale that will be recognized by the art world as of an exceptional value? Why only a few artists are chosen to represent the art history discourse, while the majority of painters, sculptors and a multitude of creative oeuvres go into oblivion?

The authenticity of art theme runs parallel to the authenticity of the personages. The play examines how people judge one another, how superficial their initial assessment of the other person could be, and how one can discover a meaningful human connection and understanding even under seemingly the most unlikely circumstances.

The play's action takes place in a kitsch-infested trailer park in Bakersfield, California. The hard-drinking, chain-smoking, down-and-out Maude Gutman is convinced she bought an unknown Jackson Pollock masterpiece worth millions at a junk shop for only three bucks. Now the question is whether Lionel Percy, the highbrow art expert she’s invited to authenticate it, will agree. A hilarious clash of cultures and classes ensures, and both Lionel and the audience gets a crash course on what makes art and people truly authentic.

The Director, Roy Surette, stated this about the play:

 “The play is very funny because these two people are so different from one another; they’re like the red and white clown icons. Through these two polar opposites, Stephen Sach’s deceptively simple script explores the much deeper issue of authenticity”. 

This is a very entertaining and meaningful play, with an especial value for those interested in art and the art world. A play not to be missed!

Cast: Nicola Cavendish and Jonathan Monro
Set & Costume Designer: Pam Johnson
Lighting Designer: Conor Moore
Sound Designer: Scott Zechner
Video Designer: Michael Sider
Stage Manager: Rick Rinder
Apprentice Stage Manager: Isabel Quintero Faia

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For more information, visit the Centaur Theatre website.

Chat Up

Sunday, February 5, 2017,  12:30 PM 

FREE ADMISSION

Join Lucinda Chodan, Montreal Gazette's editor in Chief as she investigates the possibilities of finding a real Jackson Pollock in a flea market, as well as the possibility of finding a fake one in our Museums!

Free coffee and biscotti, generously provided by Season Sponsor Bonaparte Restaurant.