Opening, Saturday, January 19, 2019 - 3PM to 6PM

and Launch at OPTICA of the magazine ESPACE art actuel
n° 121 (winter 2019)

Opening, Saturday, January 19, 2019 - 3PM to 6PM

Saturday with the Family: January 26 and March 16, 2019

Leading Edge/ Trailing Edge

Opening, Saturday, November 10, 2018 - 3PM to 6PM

Saturday with the Family: November 17 and December 15, 2018

The Magic of Orchids! Around the work of Juan Ortiz-Apuy

In in a tropical atmosphere, visitors will be invited to explore the different species of orchids, identify their particularities and think about the concept of ecosystem through a creative workshop with the cultural mediator. They will make their own flowers from different papers inspired by orchids of various origins. The participants will be asked to make a correlation with the notions of biodiversity and ecosystem, to recognize their importance for the environment and the need to preserve them for our future. Practical Information

Opening, Saturday, November 10 - 3PM to 6PM

Family Saturdays: November 17 and December 15

In her sustained residency work, Virginie Laganière adopts an attitude akin to that of an anthropological artist, mindful of immersing herself in the material and emotional texture of the spaces she studies. She conducts field work in which architectural structures in need of redefinition reveal an abundance of current and future potentialities. Developed during a stay at Studio du Québec à Rome, Le Prisme furthers this endeavour by dwelling on the formal and ideological universe of the colonie marine, or Italian seaside colonies.

Publication available at OPTICA

The Italian colonie marine—or seaside colonies, children’s summer camps set up along the Italian coasts—whose origins go back to the middle of the 19th century, were once established as institutions dedicated to children’s physical and “spiritual” health. These heterotopias functioned on the fringes of society, yet were configured as full-fledged instruments of control. Geographically positioned on the periphery of inhabited areas—before urban sprawl and the development of coastal tourism—they had their own regulations and value systems. The maritime cures took place during a summer vacation, in which the children, removed from the familial cocoon, would live in a geographic, social, and architectural environment framed by the horizon and set to a different temporality. From a historical point of view, the seaside colonies fall into three main periods: the seaside hospices, the Fascist colonies, and the pedagogical colonies.

Publication available at OPTICA

While filming and sound recording in Scotland (Ailsa Craig, Bass Rock, Isle of May, Outer Hebrides, Troup Head) during a residency at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, and in Eastern Quebec (Parc national de l’Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé, Parc national Forillon), I became interested in the North Sea and North Atlantic Seabirds. The video Leading Edge / Trailing Edge loosely evokes, through seascapes, portraits of birds and recent scientific data, the actual situation of boreal seabird species, in the era of climate change.

Trekking with the Birds! Around the work of Geneviève Chevalier

Geneviève Chevalier’s Trailing Edge/ Leading Edge looks at how climate change threatens the survival of seabirds. In this collage workshop, we will look at different birds form North America and explore the theme of migration. Where do they go, where do they come from? We will create a collaborative artwork tracing different trajectories, from those of birds to our own.

Public Conversation at OPTICA, Saturday, December 1st- 3 pm to 4:30 pm

Public conversation at OPTICA, Saturday December 1st, 3 pm to 4:30 pm between Geneviève Chevalier, *Bénédicte Ramade, art historian, Université de Montréal, and **Kyle Elliott, Assistant Professor; Canada Research Chair (Tier II) Chair in Arctic Ecology, McGill University.

NEW! Satellite project with the little ones at La Sourithèque

La Sourithèque day-care centre, Centre-Sud district
Spring 2019

This satellite project—off OPTICA’s premises—is jointly produced with artist Pavitra Wickramnasinghe. Children from the La Sourithèque will help create a collective kinetic work, a fantastical shadow play temporarily set up in their own environment. The project is an invitation to a journey, an encounter with the other, and aims to help kids discover their friends’ cultures.