History of CIAC MTL
Premier of Les Cent jours d’art contemporain de Montréal, May 1985. From left to right : Luc Courchesne, Claude Chamberlan Claude Gosselin, Pierre Ayot, Madeleine Forcier , Yolande Racine, Serge Tousignant. Photo : CIAC.
1983
FOUNDING OF THE CIAC MTL
Le Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal (CIAC MTL) was founded in 1983 by Claude Gosselin.
Its primary objective is the dissemination of recent works through national and international exhibitions, publications, a website, an electronic magazine and art awareness activities.
First identified with the visual arts, the CIAC also disseminates the work of professionals in object design and graphics, video and art film, architecture and urban planning, architecture landscape.
Since 1984
MANY CULTURAL MANDATES
The CIAC has provided professional services to the public and private sectors. For example, he organized the exhibitions Wind and Water for Quebec 84 in 1984, Traces for the Canadian government in 1986 and Growth & Risk for the Quebec government in 2001 in New York.
The CIAC also saw to the interview of Daniel Buren’s work, Neuf couleurs au vent, on behalf of the city of Montreal. It was installed for the celebration of the 450th anniversary of the arrival of Jacques Cartier.
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Daniel Buren. Neuf couleurs au vent, 1984. City of Montreal Public Art Collection. Photo Daniel Buren
Irene F. Whittome, Individuelle Mythologien, Kassel 1972 — Montreal 1985, Photo: Denis Farley. Alkyd on paper, collage, prints, photostat, 176 elements in a space of 17.4m-6m.
1985 – 1996
LES CENT JOURS D’ART CONTEMPORAIN
Les Cent jours d’art contemporain de Montréal were, from 1985 to 1996, a tool for dissemination and understanding of the current challenges of contemporary art in Quebec and Canada. This annual event allowed the promotion of artists today recognized.
On the museological level, the event was an opportunity to experiment with innovative modes of expression. Indeed, through the use of unusual places for the promotion of contemporary art, the Hundred Days will have made it possible to transform public spaces into places of artistic expression.
In terms of cultural mediation, this artistic and spatial decompartmentalization will have aimed to democratize access to the world of contemporary art.
For this event, the CIAC has won the Prix des arts visuels of the Conseil des arts de Montréal twice: 1985 and 1992.
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1997 – 2007
YOUNG VISUAL ARTS CRITICS COMPETITION
In 1997, the CIAC set up the Young Visual Arts Critics Competition, which in 2004 became the Become an arts Critic competition, open as much to students as to the general population. This initiative has been taken up by institutions both in Montreal and abroad.
This activity was a work of cultural animation intended for an in-depth understanding of the challenges of contemporary art.
View of the exhibition Les cabinets de curiosités LGBTQ+, 2017. Works of Chromogenic Curmudgeons (Evergon and Jean-Jacques Ringuette). Photo : Thomas Germanaud
Fançois Morelli. Photo: Guy L’heureux
1997 – 2014
ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE
The magazine was created by CIAC in 1997. It is the first electronic magazine in Canada.
It offers comments on digital art around the world, interviews with artists and theorists, essays, special files on various aspects of digital art, on successive editions of the Biennale de Montréal or on artworks. It thus addresses all aspects of cyberculture, art and literature related to technology.
It promotes digital arts and is dedicated to the discussion of new technologies in visual creation.
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1998 – 2011
LA BIENNALE DE MONTRÉAL
Created in 1998 by Claude Gosselin and administered by the CIAC, the Biennale de Montréal (BNL MTL) has bet on a decompartmentalization of artistic practices by bringing together artists from the visual arts, landscape architecture, graphic design or object, video and cinema. It was a place of exchanges and debates including symposium and conferences as well as a broad program of educational activities.
In all of its actions, La Biennale de Montréal focused on risk and experimentation. Its mandate was to support daring artistic proposals, carry out impactful curatorial projects and stimulate reflection by offering the public contrasting experiences.
For this event, the CIAC won the Prix des arts visuels of the Conseil des arts de Montréal in 2000.
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Sylvie Cotton, On est tous des autres. Photo: Ludovic Billard
SEE ALL THE EXHIBITIONS
PRODUCED BY THE CIAC MTL