Author: Claude Gosselin

02 December 2025

Posted at 18:54h in Newsletters by

Aujourd’hui mardi,
je donne au CIAC.

The Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art on Cité-du-Havre or yesterday,
a welcoming place for the visual arts tomorrow.
MACM Inauguration, 1968

CIAC is taking advantage of Giving Tuesday to appeal to
your generosity and help us continue our mission of
promoting the arts.

ciac.ca/dons

The CIAC is continuing to implement a major project: the renovation of the Visual Arts Pavilion from Expo 67 on Cité-du-Havre, formerly the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art. This future cultural venue will be a space dedicated to the Automatists, the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation, history, heritage, and contemporary artists. For more information:
https://ciac.ca/en/art-pavilion-at-cite-du-havre/

An exceptional building to be repurposed for the visual arts.

26 November 2025

Posted at 17:47h in Newsletters by

CIAC Annual fundraising campaign 2025-2026

Former Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, on Cité-du-Havre, 1968–1992,
also known as “Génie de l’Homme”
Photo: City of Montreal Archives.

Invitation to support our mission before December 31

The CIAC is continuing to implement a major project: the renovation of the Visual Arts Pavilion from Expo 67 on Cité-du-Havre, formerly the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art. This future cultural venue will be a space dedicated to the Automatists, the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation, history, heritage, and contemporary artists. For more information:
https://ciac.ca/en/art-pavilion-at-cite-du-havre/

Role of your contributions. Your support enables CIAC to:

  • Develop its business plan and scientific and artistic programming
  • Ensure the administrative functioning and coordination of the project
  • Pursue institutional and philanthropic partnerships
  • Maintain and update its digital and communication tools


Your support is essential to the continuation of our work.

Artistic and historical perspectives
The CIAC develops programming that brings together the heritage of modern Quebec with contemporary and digital practices, in line with its mission and commitments since 1983.

A project in keeping with the CIAC tradition
This project is in line with the major initiatives undertaken by our institution, notably Les Cent jours d’art contemporain and La Biennale de Montréal. We invite you to join the thousand people who have already given their support to the project: https://chng.it/tGqfWSfbvx

ATTENTION: On the Change.org website, we would like to point out that if you decide to make a donation there, it will be received by Change.org and not by CIAC. So please be careful. If you would like to make a donation to CIAC, please visit the following link: https://ciac.ca/dons/

An official receipt is issued for all donations of $25 or more.

We thank all donors for their commitment to Quebec-Canadian culture.

Claude Gosselin, C.M.
General and artistic director
ciac.ca
514-288-0811

19 November 2025

Posted at 21:15h in Newsletters by

Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal :
Call for submissions
Impressions artist residency 2025-2026

View of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace. Photo Thibault Carron

In collaboration with the Conseil des arts de Montréal

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 17, 2025

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, with the support of the Conseil des arts de Montréal, is inviting candidates to submit their applications for the artist residency, Impressions, offered to a visual artist from one of Montreal’s cultural communities. We would be grateful if you would kindly share it within your network.

We remain at your disposal should you require any further information: appelresidence@mbamtl.org

REVIEW THE DETAILS OF THE CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

12 November 2025

Posted at 20:40h in Newsletters by

San Francisco’s Armand Vaillancourt controversial brutalist fountain slated for removal

The Vaillancourt Fountain in San Francisco.
Photo: DeAgostini / Getty Images.

We regret the decision by the San Francisco City Arts Commission to remove the Fontaine de Vaillancourt. This fountain has had an iconic past and has been a source of pride for the City of San Francisco. It is recognized by artists and art historians as a
major work of 20th-century art.

Claude Gosselin, General and artistic director
Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal
www.ciac.ca

Artnet published the last and possibly final update about the removal of Armand Vaillancourt’s fountain Québec Libre in San Francisco.

The saga of San Francisco’s most controversial public sculpture is at an end. The Brutalist sculpture by Armand Vaillancourt will be removed, following a Monday vote by the city’s Art Commission, which decided the structure posed safety concerns, the New York Times reported.

Excerpt from the article:

  • San Francisco’s Art Commission voted to remove Armand Vaillancourt’s Brutalist fountain, citing safety issues.
  • The artist and local groups had long advocated for the sculpture’s preservation, claiming a lack of transparency over its repair costs.
  • The artwork will be disassembled and stored for up to three years.


In June, the sculpture in Embarcadero Plaza was fenced off by authorities owing to alleged safety and security issues. In August, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) asked the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) to deaccession and demolish the sculpture to redevelop the plaza, citing the prohibitive cost of restoration. The sculpture’s removal will make way for private developer BXP to transform the plaza into a waterfront park.

The 96-year-old sculptor behind the work, who had traveled from Quebec to San Francisco earlier this year to advocate for it, called this latest decision “a shame,” telling the Times: “They know when they remove the sculpture, it’s the end of the work.”

Read the entire article on Artnet’s website:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/vaillancourt-fountain-recreation-parks-department-controversy-2699795

Un homme et son chien marchent devant la fontaine Vaillancourt à Embarcadero Plaza,
à San Francisco, en Californie, le mercredi 16 décembre 2020.

16 October 2025

Posted at 16:36h in Newsletters by

Fate of San Francisco’s Armand Vaillancourt Fountain in Question as New Documents Emerge

Armand Vaillancourt, center, stands at Vaillancourt Fountain in Embarcadero Plaza with his wife Joanne Beaulieu, left, and his son Alexis Vaillancourt, right, in San Francisco.
Photo: Getty Images

We wholeheartedly support Armand Vaillancourt in
defending his fountain sculpture in San Francisco.

Claude Gosselin, Directeur général et artistique
Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal
www.ciac.ca

The city of San Francisco wants to demolish the sculpture to redevelop Embarcadero Plaza, but new papers reveal there’s more to the story.

Artnet recently published an interesting article about the situation surrounding the possible destruction of the Vaillancourt Fountain in San Francisco.

Excerpt from the article:

  • San Francisco’s Brutalist Vaillancourt Fountain faces demolition due to safety concerns and high restoration costs.
  • Documents reveal property company BXP, and not the Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) has been responsible for maintenance, contradicting public claims.
  • RPD is accused of misleading the public amid revelations that restoration is possible, but the fountain’s future is still at risk amid redevelopment plans.


The saga of San Francisco’s most controversial public sculpture has taken another turn. In June, Armand Vaillancourt’s massive Brutalist sculpture in Embarcadero Plaza was fenced off by authorities owing to alleged safety and security concerns. In August, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) asked the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) to deaccession and demolish the sculpture to redevelop the Plaza, citing the prohibitive cost of restoration.

Now, it appears RPD has misled the public over who has the responsibility for maintaining and repairing the Vaillancourt Fountain, which was built in 1971. Documents reviewed by The Art Newspaper show that BXP, the property company leading the demolition effort and redevelopment of the Plaza, has largely been responsible for maintaining the Vaillancourt Fountain for almost 50 years.

Read the entire article on Artnet’s website:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/vaillancourt-fountain-recreation-parks-department-controversy-2699795

The Vaillancourt Fountain in 1971, the year it was unveiled.
Courtesy San Francisco Civic Art Collection.

05 August 2025

Posted at 19:38h in Newsletters by

Jana Sterbak présente une intervention dans les collections du Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal

This is the first time that the museum has invited an artist to reflect on its collection and to include her works in it, creating Corpus insolite linked to the history of the community and that of Montreal.

The exhibition will end on August 24!

The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday for individual visitors
and by reservation for organized groups.

https://museedeshospitalieres.qc.ca/

201, avenue des Pins Ouest, Montréal H2 1R5
514 849-2919

10 July 2025

Posted at 17:11h in Newsletters by

Our friend Yvon Cozic has passed away

Photo Monic Brassard, April 30, 2020, at the time of Covid.

I met Yvon Cozic on several occasions. Each time, there was a smile on his radiant face, a pleasure in conversation, and the exchange of ideas about our cultural environment. Yvon was a positive and unmistakable person.

With Monic Brassard, his wife and partner in the artistic couple COZIC, the two artists produced a unique body of work that borders on playfulness and scientific study. Their art is situated in that difficult moment, poised between serious questioning and a trivial moment experienced in spontaneous wonder, free from all questioning. It is the poetic, joyful, and simple moment in which we are called to participate, to enter into the work. It is the moment of light.

COZIC, Altar of Little Mickeys (montage), 2003-2004,
Courtesy of Galerie Graff, Montreal, Canada
Photo © BNL MTL 2011 / Ed Kostinier.

We thank Yvon and Monic for allowing us to participate in some of their works. For bringing them to life, in a way, for giving them a life that touches us for a moment, a moment of life that we share with them and that unites us with art.

Monic told me that Yvon had told him before leaving: “I was loved.” He was right, we loved him.

Tributes to him will be held in August at the Cinémathèque québécoise and in September at Chiguer Art Contemporain.

Claude Gosselin, C.M.

COZIC, As Art (detail) 2011,
Courtesy of Galerie Graff, Montreal, Canada
Photo © BNL MTL 2011 / Ed Kostinier.

Links of interests :

L’artiste contemporain Yvon Cozic est décédé
https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/arts-visuels/898108/artiste-contemporain-yvon-cozic-est-decede

L’inclassable Yvon Cozic n’est plus
https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/arts-visuels/2025-07-07/l-inclassable-yvon-cozic-n-est-plus.php

Yvon cozic (1942-2025) : une grande perte pour l’art québécois
https://www.mnbaq.org/articles-audios-videos/yvon-cozic-1942-2025-une-grande-perte-pour-lart-quebecois

Cozic : Collectif actif de 1967 à 2025​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​https://macm.org/en/collections/artiste/cozic/

06 May 2025

Posted at 20:26h in Newsletters by

40th ANNIVERSARY

of the creation of

Les Cent jours d’art contemporain de Montréal (1985–1996)

and its exhibition,

AURORA BOREALIS

Betty Goodwin, Moving Towards Fire, 1985,
Oil pastels and acrylics in a 12.5m x 7m space.
Cent jours d’art contemporain – Montréal 85. Photo from Denis Farley.

1985 marked the first public event of the Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal, which was founded in October 1983 by Claude Gosselin. After serving as Director of Exhibitions at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal from 1979 to 1983, Claude Gosselin was appointed Visual Arts Curator for Québec 84, the public corporation responsible for the event commemorating the 450th anniversary of Jacques Cartier’s arrival in Québec.

At the end of 1984, back in Montréal and drawing on his experience in Québec City, he sought to create a visual arts event that would complement the existing festivals in Montreal (theatre, film, dance). He founded Les Cent jours d’art contemporain de Montréal, a platform for visual arts.

Visual arts events generally means an exhibition. Claude Gosselin had one in mind that would include numerous artists. To bring it to life, he invited René Blouin and Normand Thériault—two major figures in Montreal contemporary art scene—to join him. Together, the three curators selected thirty established Canadian artists. The title of the exhibition, AURORA BOREALIS, was chosen by Normand Thériault.

But what made AURORA BOREALIS a milestone in the history of contemporary art in Canada?

Let’s revisit the uniqueness of this artistic event.

Read the full article
on the CIAC website at this address:

https://ciac.ca/en/40th-anniversary-of-cent-jours-dart-contemporain-de-montreal-and-aurora-borealis/

 

 

THE ARTS PAVILION AT CITÉ-DU-HAVRE

SUPPORT THE PROJECT ON CHANGE.ORG

To mark its 40th anniversary, CIAC embarks on another major project for the visual arts: THE ARTS PAVILION AT CITÉ-DU-HAVRE, MONTRÉAL. Find out more on the CIAC website.

It’s all about staying passionate.

We would be delighted to count you among our partners or allies by signing the register at this address and to talk about it to your friends:
https://chng.it/6Rj8KC7VXp

For full details of the Arts Pavilion at Cité-du-Havre, visit our website:
https://ciac.ca/en/arts-pavilion-at-cite-du-havre/

29 April 2025

Posted at 20:01h in Newsletters by

Ciac unveils ambitious project

The Arts Pavilion at Cité-du-Havre

Claude Gosselin in front of the Musée d’art d’Expo 67, future Arts Pavilion of Cité-du-Havre

CIAC is pleased to announce the new project it has been working on for several months: the transformation of the former Musée d’art d’Expo 67 into an Arts Pavilion. Our project was unveiled in La Presse last Saturday, April 12. Read Mario Girard’s article:
Quel avenir pour un symbole d’Expo 67 ?
https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/chroniques/2025-04-12/quel-avenir-pour-un-symbole-d-expo-67.php
An english copy of the article is also available by clicking here.

This is precisely the future that Claude Gosselin and his team have in mind for the Arts Pavilion of Cité-du-Havre. The former Expo 67 art museum will return to its original vocation, offering the metropolis its first space dedicated to Les Automatistes’ legacy.

Inspired by major international cultural parks such as Parc Güell in Barcelona or the Jardin d’acclimatation (Fondation Louis Vuitton) in Paris, the verdant Cité-du-Havre site will be transformed into a veritable artistic hub in the heart of Montreal.

Would you like to support the project?
We would be delighted to count you among our partners or allies by signing the register at this address:
https://chng.it/6Rj8KC7VXp

For full details of the Arts Pavilion at Cité-du-Havre, visit our website: https://ciac.ca/en/arts-pavilion-at-cite-du-havre/

28 April 2025

Posted at 18:49h in Newsletters by

Preserving and promoting heritage through requalification

An invitation from Héritage Montreal

We are sending you an invitation from Héritage Montréal to participate in a day of study and mobilization to safeguard and enhance heritage through requalification

Free activity presented as part of the 50th anniversary of Héritage Montréal

50 years ago, people mobilized against the massive demolition of our buildings and heritage sites. In 2025, although demolition is better contained, abandonment and degradation now appear as the main threats, in Montréal as elsewhere in Québec. In response, requalification emerges as an approach and strategy that must be better recognized and supported.

May 22, 2025 from 8 a.m. at Théâtre Rialto
5723 Av. du Parc, Montreal

DISCOVER THE DAY’S PROGRAM

A day of exchanges, conferences,
round tables and networking.

An event organized as part of Héritage Montréal’s 50ᵉ anniversary, made possible thanks to the support of the Government of Quebec, the City of Montreal and the Carosielli Group. Thank you for your support!