Since the beginning of September, the International Bienniale of Contemporary Images offers nearly 30 exhibitions around the theme “the Post-Photographic Condition”. It is an occasion to browse the galleries and museums circuit of the city of Quebec and discover works by Canadian and international artists selected by renowned Spanish artist Joan Fontcuberta, guest curator for this 14e edition of the MPM.
Fontcuberta speaks out: he wants to question the relationship we have with images and surmise on the new aesthetic canons of photography. With modesty, he does not claim to provide answers. It is through the photographs, videos or installations that have retained his attention that the public will have every interest in probing these questions. To nourish interrogations on the concept of Post-Photography, numerous conferences are equally offered with quality lecturers, among them Quentin Bajac, chief curator of the photography department of MoMa New York.
Apart from using screenshots and the harvest of vernacular images, one must also know how to dissociate Post-Photography from the web says the curator. New communication or scientific and technological developments equally serve to inspire artists, as much as sociological or anthropological research. For example, in her amazing staged photographed scenes, Australian artist Patricia Piccininin announces an anticipated future where man co-exists with the strange creatures he has himself created. With a subject around surveillance and its archive, Simon Menner reuses images of the Stasi, sometimes cynically, to enlighten us on the methods used by the German secret police. In connection with the news, the long term project of Canadian photojournalist Liam Maloney highlights how mobile phone are necessary, the only link with the outside world for refugees, in this case Syrians, and chooses to photograph them in the light of their phone screen. An interactive luminous installation is to be discovered in the Belgo building, in the city center, where several other exhibitions are to be found during this Month of Photography . In total, sixteen locations welcome this year event which happens every other year. Each edition raises the publics’ awareness on how to look at images differently and opens discussions on the transformation of photography.
FESTIVAL
The Month of Photography 2015
Montreal
From September 10th to October 11th, 2015
