Where does it end, when does it begin
Today I saw a mini-car (not a brittish Mini but I forgot the names of those cars that look like half VW) sporting the name of the gallery Simon Blais, one of the largest commercial gallery in Montreal (their gallery space is actually quite average but they have an impressive stair entrance).
If I remember correctly, that was one of the first gallery that opted to move to
Mile-End, a pseudo-industrial sector in Montreal (actually featuring a lot of normal apartment streets), that first started to gain popularity with the art community in the late 80's and early 90's because many cool montreal musicians started living there, changing their lofts into illegal temporary concert rooms.
For some reason, and from word to mouth, everybody thought for a while that the
future art headquarters of Montreal would happen there. I remember a time when Bain Matthieu represented a symbol of that move. It was around when sculptor Trevor Gould had arranged with his class an art intervention in the once abandoned building. The Bain has since become the residence of a dance company but is offered and opened for many art events, though the interventional aspect of the early shows lost their meaning.
Then Clark Gallery moved there, a Montreal gallery that holds a certain importance
for the art community because it offers a membership workshop, and from there a couple other sparses galleries added up. The latest is one remarkable move: Articule
Gallery are going independant again (they once had a space on Mont-Royal that was relatively remote from the Montreal art scene), abandoning Oboro, Dazibao, and other friends at 4001 Berri to inhabit an old shop (or was it a restaurant?) at the corners of Fairmount and Jeanne-Mance.
A much less drastic move than with Clark, Articule's decision
to get away from the strict white cube and embrace a window shop charm reminiscent of Queen Street, Toronto, or the recent La Centrale in Montreal, is still a significant one.
Is it finally happening? Is Mile End, 10 years after it was announced, slowly revealing its appeal for the rest of the art community? Is the "second Belgo" that was once idealized around the Gallery Clark quarters a tangible future possibility?
Is the fact that you meet so many local artists when you go drink a tisane at Cafe Esperanza a sign that this is the place now where people want to be?
I doubt it, seriously.
For one, all the cool musicians that started the Mile End trend are now moving to live in the Gay Village. It is the new "secret cool spot" of Montreal Arts (go figure why artists need to constantly re-invent them). The new artists hang out in gay pubs, while leaning on towards the east on Ontario and Ste-Catherine they are fine spots opening (some already opened since a while) for concerts and art shows (it is still more of a music community at the moment). Even a second Public Bath was turned into a concert hall if you move a little further.
Second, the Mile End gallery spot is yet too far and lonely. I am sure Clark Gallery keeps a strong clientele because of his workshop, but it must be harder for them now to get visitors from outside that community. Whatever people think, it is badly situated. It is a far walk for anyone not living around it. And without wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, visitors are most likely, still at this moment, to wish to travel there solely to see something at Clark. But I'll need to admit: I am guilty myself of visiting this gallery much less frequently since they have moved on the far end of De Gaspe. I always think: "if I'm going to take this ride, it must be something I feel strongly attracted to see", and on that concern my expectations with Clark might have levelled to degrees that would be unfair to all my other gallery visits.
Third, La Centrale and Dare Dare are two noticeable Montreal galleries that have taken decisions recently to move independantly from any art communities, moving to places they thought would better fit to their individual purposes (fashion district for La Centrale, and fucked up druggish public zone for Dare Dare), so this lead me to think that the Mile End position of the next Articule is purely coincidental and entirely unstrategic to any market or scene: they merely wish to escape the cube and embrace the pittoresque.
I think what is happening in Montreal is that we're moving away from a centralization of a visual art community. There is no real markets going on here, galleries mostly subsists on government grants attributed in regard of their mandates. So the real need for them is to reflect these mandates the best possible, and these are more and more about confronting the standard public with contemporary art (since "experimenting with art" doesn't mean much anymore), and not much concerned about conglomerating artists in places where they can really exchange.
How many artists in Canada have you heard lately that told you they were more interested in surprising the unitiated with their art rather than truly address themselves to people who know art and have an experience with it?
I almost feel sometimes like artists are disappointed if I make the long ride to see their public piece and realize that I am not the total tourist they expected.
Articule are far from being the first to declare that their reasoning behind their move was that they want to attract more of the standard people from the street.
The new galleries might are opening up in the least likely of places.
I used to enjoy being a 20 minutes walk from everything, but the Montreal gallery world is definitely being dispersed, and from now on, wherever you decide to move and live in this city, you are going to be a major bycicle ride away from a couple gallery spots (if not between each galleries).
Cedric Caspesyan
centiment@hotmail.com
PS: Gyorgy Ligeti died this week (12th June). I tried to find a song of his that I recorded in my late teens with a chorus of 5 women. That was supposed to be part of a theatre play that never occured but I have the demos somewhere and they're fun.
May the great spirits bless him.
PS2: Speaking of theatre, the Fringe Festival is on in Montreal. I missed the two last editions of this event, but this time I am intrigued to see Chronos, a 4 hours ambulatory piece, in which it is said that the main character is the spectator. The play start at 6 pm or 9 pm on both Saturday and Sunday night at 2158 Delorimier (only 25 per cent of tickets are sold directly at the venue). The play includes an eating session. It is in french.
If I remember correctly, that was one of the first gallery that opted to move to
Mile-End, a pseudo-industrial sector in Montreal (actually featuring a lot of normal apartment streets), that first started to gain popularity with the art community in the late 80's and early 90's because many cool montreal musicians started living there, changing their lofts into illegal temporary concert rooms.
For some reason, and from word to mouth, everybody thought for a while that the
future art headquarters of Montreal would happen there. I remember a time when Bain Matthieu represented a symbol of that move. It was around when sculptor Trevor Gould had arranged with his class an art intervention in the once abandoned building. The Bain has since become the residence of a dance company but is offered and opened for many art events, though the interventional aspect of the early shows lost their meaning.
Then Clark Gallery moved there, a Montreal gallery that holds a certain importance
for the art community because it offers a membership workshop, and from there a couple other sparses galleries added up. The latest is one remarkable move: Articule
Gallery are going independant again (they once had a space on Mont-Royal that was relatively remote from the Montreal art scene), abandoning Oboro, Dazibao, and other friends at 4001 Berri to inhabit an old shop (or was it a restaurant?) at the corners of Fairmount and Jeanne-Mance.
A much less drastic move than with Clark, Articule's decision
to get away from the strict white cube and embrace a window shop charm reminiscent of Queen Street, Toronto, or the recent La Centrale in Montreal, is still a significant one.
Is it finally happening? Is Mile End, 10 years after it was announced, slowly revealing its appeal for the rest of the art community? Is the "second Belgo" that was once idealized around the Gallery Clark quarters a tangible future possibility?
Is the fact that you meet so many local artists when you go drink a tisane at Cafe Esperanza a sign that this is the place now where people want to be?
I doubt it, seriously.
For one, all the cool musicians that started the Mile End trend are now moving to live in the Gay Village. It is the new "secret cool spot" of Montreal Arts (go figure why artists need to constantly re-invent them). The new artists hang out in gay pubs, while leaning on towards the east on Ontario and Ste-Catherine they are fine spots opening (some already opened since a while) for concerts and art shows (it is still more of a music community at the moment). Even a second Public Bath was turned into a concert hall if you move a little further.
Second, the Mile End gallery spot is yet too far and lonely. I am sure Clark Gallery keeps a strong clientele because of his workshop, but it must be harder for them now to get visitors from outside that community. Whatever people think, it is badly situated. It is a far walk for anyone not living around it. And without wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, visitors are most likely, still at this moment, to wish to travel there solely to see something at Clark. But I'll need to admit: I am guilty myself of visiting this gallery much less frequently since they have moved on the far end of De Gaspe. I always think: "if I'm going to take this ride, it must be something I feel strongly attracted to see", and on that concern my expectations with Clark might have levelled to degrees that would be unfair to all my other gallery visits.
Third, La Centrale and Dare Dare are two noticeable Montreal galleries that have taken decisions recently to move independantly from any art communities, moving to places they thought would better fit to their individual purposes (fashion district for La Centrale, and fucked up druggish public zone for Dare Dare), so this lead me to think that the Mile End position of the next Articule is purely coincidental and entirely unstrategic to any market or scene: they merely wish to escape the cube and embrace the pittoresque.
I think what is happening in Montreal is that we're moving away from a centralization of a visual art community. There is no real markets going on here, galleries mostly subsists on government grants attributed in regard of their mandates. So the real need for them is to reflect these mandates the best possible, and these are more and more about confronting the standard public with contemporary art (since "experimenting with art" doesn't mean much anymore), and not much concerned about conglomerating artists in places where they can really exchange.
How many artists in Canada have you heard lately that told you they were more interested in surprising the unitiated with their art rather than truly address themselves to people who know art and have an experience with it?
I almost feel sometimes like artists are disappointed if I make the long ride to see their public piece and realize that I am not the total tourist they expected.
Articule are far from being the first to declare that their reasoning behind their move was that they want to attract more of the standard people from the street.
The new galleries might are opening up in the least likely of places.
I used to enjoy being a 20 minutes walk from everything, but the Montreal gallery world is definitely being dispersed, and from now on, wherever you decide to move and live in this city, you are going to be a major bycicle ride away from a couple gallery spots (if not between each galleries).
Cedric Caspesyan
centiment@hotmail.com
PS: Gyorgy Ligeti died this week (12th June). I tried to find a song of his that I recorded in my late teens with a chorus of 5 women. That was supposed to be part of a theatre play that never occured but I have the demos somewhere and they're fun.
May the great spirits bless him.
PS2: Speaking of theatre, the Fringe Festival is on in Montreal. I missed the two last editions of this event, but this time I am intrigued to see Chronos, a 4 hours ambulatory piece, in which it is said that the main character is the spectator. The play start at 6 pm or 9 pm on both Saturday and Sunday night at 2158 Delorimier (only 25 per cent of tickets are sold directly at the venue). The play includes an eating session. It is in french.
posted by Cedric at 10:33 PM
2 Comments:
Howdy!
Hey! La Centrale is a block away from here. I certainly never thought I was in the 'fashion district.'
As for your 'largest commercial gallery' there are a bunch of places that make that claim.
Hi Chris,
Yes your gallery and la centrale are a little up north, but when i was at la centrale once someone did mentioned that the fact the gallery was surrounded by design furniture boutiques and a little bit lower all the design clothe boutiques made it sort of interesting for the gallery (they are in fact midway between the fashion shops of stlaurent and the fripperies of Mt Royal).
St Laurent is also big on clubs.
Cheers,
Cedric Caspesyan
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