CCA 2019: Americanizm in Russian Architecture

Building a New World:
Americanizm in Russian Architecture

November 13, 2019 - April 5, 2020

Building a new New World examines the history of Russian architecture and urban design in light of an enduring Amerikanizm. It focuses on an expanded definition of architecture and culture, as well as industrial and graphic design, music, photography, film, and literature. It also provides examples of various buildings, factories, industrial infrastructures, urban planning and product design.

The exhibition presents a wide-ranging succession of images and objects in which architecture serves as the unifying thread, including photographs, books, maps, drawings, magazines, portraits, models, postcards, and film excerpts. It examines numerous themes: imagined forms and buildings inspired by American sources, recurring investigative journeys undertaken by Russian explorers, political leaders, and architects; the multitude of Russian publications devoted to the United States, ranging from technical reports to poetry and novels.

Jean-Louis Cohen, the exhibition’s curator, stated:

“The bilateral relationship between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America was paradoxical. Americans never aspired to turn their nation into a ‘new Russia,’ neither from a political nor a cultural standpoint, while generations of Russian politicians, intellectuals, and engineers envisioned modelling their country after the United States, hoping to cast it as a new America.”

CCA Director Mirko Zardini explained:

“Through the CCA’s critical curatorial framework and calculated exhibition design, Cohen interprets Amerikanizm as a multifaceted phantasmagoria—borrowing Walter Benjamin’s term for the stimulating and ominous spectacle of the commodity—that helped shape not only the built form but also the consciousness of one of the greatest global powers.”

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Building a new New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture is the result of extensive research by curator Jean-Louis Cohen and features drawings, photographs, posters, books, publications, models, historical documents, and films from both Russia and the USA. The decades-long dialogue between Russia and the USA is reflected in the materials on display, which include rarely seen Russian holdings from the CCA’s own collection—including rare books and magazines, evocative drawings, and important photographs—shown alongside loans from important international institutions and lenders including, among others, the Alex Lachmann collection, with 33 objects on view in the exhibition; an emblematic and rare illustration from the MOMus - Museum of Modern Art - Costakis Collection in Thessaloniki, Greece; the Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation in Vienna; the Library of Congress; posters and key visuals from the Collection Merrill C. Berman; and works on loan from the Albert Kahn records at the Bentley Historical Library of University of Michigan and Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. The exhibition content is structured along specific themes including America and the Modernization of Czarist Russia; American Industries for Russia: Taylor, Ford, and Kahn; Amerikanizms of the Avant-Gardes; Amerikanizm in Stalinist Architecture and Culture; From War to Triumph; and The Post-Stalinist USSR: Reaching and Surpassing America. Throughout the succession of images and projects on display, architecture embodies the phenomenon of Amerikanizm that was also apparent in literature and film. Indeed, throughout the exhibition, film remains an important leitmotif, with excerpts from works by Sergey Eisenstein and Grigory Alexandrov, Mikhail Chiaureli, Esfir Shub, Frank & Lillian Gilbreth, Lev Kuleshov, Sergey Komarov, Alexander Medvedkin, Mikhail Kalatozov, and Charles & Ray Eames on display in key locations within and between galleries.

THE PUBLICATION

Building a new New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture is accompanied by a book of the same title by Jean-Louis Cohen, available in English and French editions in February 2020. Co-published by Yale and the CCA in English and Hazan and the CCA in French, the book follows the themes of the exhibition within a broader interpretive narrative and is illustrated by 450 colour and black and white images of drawings, photographs, maps, charts, and posters. The book will be available online and in-store through the CCA Bookstore, and distributed to select bookstores internationally.

RELATED PROGRAMS

Public programs related to Building a new New World will include a series of talks titled Search for a new New World by invited guests whose work relates to the themes explored through the exhibition. Adding examples beyond the terrestrial focus of the exhibition, this series looks to Russian science fiction as a site of social and technological fantasy: reflection and experimentation beyond what was possible in Russian reality. In parallel to the exhibition chronology, Russian society is read through four case studies from science fiction texts, images, and films. 

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All photos © Nadia Slejskova.

For more information about CCA projects, visit the CCA website.

MMFA 2019: New Wing

Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery Wing

For the Arts of One World

10 galleries creating a dialogue between works from every continent 

Opened on November 9, 2019

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) had unveil the new Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery Wing for the Arts of One World. Located on the 4th floor of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion. The wing has 10 fully refurbished galleries. Each gallery creates a dialogue between works of ancient cultures and those by local and international contemporary artists, attempting to establish a new intercultural and transhistorical perspective is. This project was made possible thanks to the generous support of Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery and the wing is named to jonour them.

The 1025 m² of the Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery wing contain more than 1500 objects and works by artists from every continent. The wing presents treasures from Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Oceania and the Americas dating from the 4^th millennium BCE to the present days. It invites visitors to take a 360-degree look at our collective ancient heritage as well as contemporary creations. The wing’s layout highlights the exchange between various cultures of the past and the present, thus showcasing current artistic disciplines and social concerns, bypassing the discourse of art history.

Tthe Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery Wing for the Arts of One World promotes inclusive values that reflect Montreal, a metropolis made up of nearly 120 cultural communities. It invites cultures to come together to better understand each other in the 21^st century, assuring the cultural togetherness will not be a challenge.

Nathalie Bondil, Director General and Chief Curator of the MMFA, explained:

“Conceived of five years ago, this project is based on a generous and bold intercultural and transhistorical vision. It is the culmination of a decade of hard work (studies, rediscoveries, restorations, an  acquisitions) with our curators, conservators, archivists, archeologists, experts and donors to enhance, reinforce, study, and renew our archeological collections and those from traditional cultures. The wing includes more than 1500 works: pieces that have been acquired over 10 years along with many pieces from our collection that have been rediscovered from our reserves. I wanted this wing to provide complex perspectives and diverse voices through more contemporary works that echo our global world. These great artists are from every continent and include Canadians who are part of diverse, Indigenous, and local and international communities....

More than ever, we need to think as One World, or a world of togetherness as our societies fracture. We want individuals to marvel at our plurality of cultures in a world that has never experienced such close proximity. This wing represents a journey toward the Other as we become aware of our common fate as we currently struggle to achieve sustainable development and protect life's diversity. This poetic journey refers to the extremely open and far-reaching thought of Caribbean poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant. His ideas are that we must crisscross the traditions of our world and that the imaginations of humanities must change.”

Location:

Thw new Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery Wing for the Arts of One World is located on the 4th floor of the the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion, the largest and most visited of the Museum's five pavilions.

“One World"

A tribute to Édouard Glissant

The MMFA's World Cultures collection has been completely revamped. The new name of this collection echoes the One World concept introduced by Martinique poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant (1928-2011). "Relationship" is the key to his vault of thoughts on diversity and plurality. Questioning ethnocentric views of the world and history, Glissant interprets modernity as a relational process in a non-hierarchical world between all peoples and all cultures.

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All photos  © Nadia Slejskova

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

MMFA 2019: 20 Years of Sharing the Museum Program

MMFA: SHARING THE MUSEUM PROGRAM
20th ANNIVERSARY

September 25, 2019

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is celebrating 20 years of its Sharing the Museum program. Since launching in 1999, it has enabled over 275,000 vulnerable people to enjoy a broad range of free arts activities created just for them. Thanks to Bell’s renewed support through a major donation of $1 million over five years, even more people who are usually excluded from cultural experiences can enjoy the benefits of art.

Sharing the Museum program is the result of a relationship between the MMFA’s expert teams and over 600 non-profit organizations, CLSCs, and hospitals. This program has constantly evolved and expanded to new audiences since its creation, and  has become an international model for museum initiatives in accessibility and inclusion. It embodies the MMFA’s committed vision of a museum that is open and accessible to everyone, including those marginalized due to social, economic or health factors.

Through the program, the Museum offers many free activities which are adapted to the needs and interests of people experiencing hardship. They include guided tours of the collections, art workshops led by mediators or art therapists, and special concerts. Held both at the Museum and also at the community at large, these activities offer an opportunity to socialize, make friends, but most importantly to learn and create in a welcoming and safe space. They stimulate the participants’ creativity and help them regain their self-confidence.

The MMFA program Sharing the Museum is designed for children, adults and seniors from disadvantaged communities and neighbourhoods, at-risk youth, immigrants and refugees, women in crisis, people who are developing literacy skills, people experiencing homelessness, people with physical or mental health issues or with cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer's, people with physical or intellectual disabilities as well as family caregivers.

The program has also been the subject of research articles published in journals such as The Arts in Psychotherapy and The Journal of Museum Education. In 2018, Concordia University researcher Darla Fortune carried out a study on the impact of this program from the standpoint of inclusion and a sense of belonging and found that the program’s participants felt accepted and valued.

A work by Bahar Taheri to mark 20 years of Sharing the Museum

To thank their partners who over the past two decades enabled thousands of children, adults and seniors to experience the Museum in a special way, and to celebrate the great contribution of these groups and the program’s, the MMFA has acquired The Lady of the Harbour (2018) by Iranian artist Bahar Taheri, who lives in Montreal. This recent addition to the collection  is displayed in the new Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery Wing for the Arts of One World as of November 9.

A new mural honouring our partners has also been created by the collective EN MASSE, in the Bell Lounge of the MMFA’s Michel de la Chenelière International Atelier for Education and Art Therapy.

Bell: an essential partner of Sharing the Museum

A MMFA partner since 2010 and a major patron of this program for the past five years, Bell has announced that it will renew its partnership until 2023 with a donation of $1 million over the next five years. This generous contribution will enable the Museum to maintain and multiply its community and wellness projects.

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

CCA 2019: Gordon Matta-Clark - Rough Cuts and Outtakes

ROUGH CUTS AND OUTTAKES
GORDON MATTA-CLARK
Curated by Hila Peleg

September 27, 2019 - January 9, 2020

The exhibition is dedicated to the works of trained architect and conceptual artist Gordon Matta-Clark whose writings, photographs, films, correspondence, and selected artworks were produced between 1969 and 1978. They were donated to the CCA by the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark in 2011.

Structured as a study in three acts, this series of exhibitions invites three guest curators from different curatorial backgrounds ranging from contemporary art, film and archival research, to social practice studies, to explore Gordon Matta-Clark’s critical practice within the architectural scene of the time. His architectural deconstruction performing pieces are a direct social statement and a pointed comment huge industrial and residential complexes that were condemned to be demolished. His works were fleeting. They existed only for a very short time and than destroyed by the demolishion crews.

It is the second exhibition of this Out of the Box series. It showcases Gordon Matta-Clark’s filmmaking process through a selection of outtakes, many largely unseen until now, drawn from Matta-Clark’s documentation of three of his major building cuts (SPLITTING, DAY’S END, and CONICAL INTERSECT). Additionally a fourth section is presented at the exhibition entitled FOOD which depicts the community restaurant conceived by Matta-Clark and ran by his supporters and friends.

The exhibition, which is being held at the CCA Octagonal gallery, reveals the broader social and spatial context of Matta-Clark’s projects.

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All Photos courtesy of © CCA.

The Gordon Matta-Clark Collection can also be studied online. Visit the online finding aid for personal reference.

Read about the first Gordon Matta-Clark exhibition in this series here.

For more information about CCA projects, visit the CCA website.

MMFA 2019: Jean McEwen

UNTAMED COLOUR  - PAINTURES BARBARES
CELEBRATING JEAN McEWEN 

September 17, 2019 – February 2, 2020

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is paying homage to a Montreal painter Jean McEwen (1923-1999), commemorating the 20th anniversary of his death. The Museum presents a selection of his works acquired mainly over the last two decades. The great number and the significance of these works, donated by the artist's family and also several local collectors, attest to the special connection between McEwen and the MMFA.

The exhibition, installed in a newly renovated gallery in the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, presents about 20 pieces, paintings, and works on paper from 1951 to 1998. They provide an overview and a summary of McEwen's unique artistic approach: an exploration of the pictorial surface through the application of successive layers of paint, thus intensifying the expressiveness of colour within a confined space. He explored the potential of colour to create the illusion of space and surface dynamics. Playing with the duality between colour and structure, he organized his colour fields with great spatial precision while exploring the full potential of colour and the space/plane dynamics. 

Some of the paintings on display highlight international exhibitions dedicated to the artist, which extended as far as Brazil, Japan, USA and England. They include Long Plumb Line No. 2 (1961) that won him a solo exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York in 1963, and Open Mauve (1962) that features a central band intersecting two colour fields, a composition that became the artist's signature.

 
The exhibition also showcases McEwen's monumental masterpiece Jubilant Red (1963), on loan from the Power Corporation of Canada Collection. Also included are watercolours from the series "De ma main à la couleur" [Hand to Colour]. Gifted to the MMFA by the artist's wife Indra, which additionally feature McEwen's poems. There is also a recently restored Untitled (1951), a painting that shows Paul-Émile Borduas' influence on McEwen's practice. 

About the Artist

Jean McEwen (1923-1999) was a self-taught painter born in Montreal. He exhibited his works for the first time in 1949, at the MMFA's 66th Annual Spring Exhibition. His early development was shaped by a meeting a fellow Quebec painter Paul-Émile Borduas, as well as a trip to Paris in 1951 where he met Jean-Paul Riopelle and was introduced to prominent avant-garde painters, including most significantly Sam Francis. His return to the Montreal scene coincided with a crucial moment in the history of abstract painting: in 1955, he was part of the Espace 55 exhibition at the MMFA as well as the first collective exhibition of the Galerie actuelle. McEwen subsequently joined the Association des artistes non figuratifs de Montréal (AANFM).

His bold paintings engaged with the Paris and New York avant-garde, which led to a solo exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York in 1963. That same year McEwen was invited to represent Canada at the 7th São Paulo Biennial. His work captured the attention of Alfred H. Barr, Jr. of the Museum of Modern Art in New York as well as of Joseph Hirshhorn, both of whom acquired works for their respective institutions.

In 1987-1988, the MMFA hosted the first major retrospective dedicated to the artist: Jean McEwen: Colour in Depth. Paintings and Works on Paper, 1951-1986. In 2005, MMFA held the Jean McEwen "From my Hand into Colour" exhibition that included a series of watercolours by the same name.

The watercolor works on display will be rotated during the duration of the exhibition to show to the public more of McEwans' works on paper.

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All photos courtesy of @MMFA

Exhibition Location

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion – Level 1

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