New Technologies, Contemporary Art At Montreal Museum

The exhibition e-art: New Technologies and Contemporary Art – Ten Years of Accomplishments by the Daniel Langlois Foundation features an outstanding selection of spectacular works, some of which were specially commissioned for this event. They all highlight the role of digital technology in the transformation of the work of art, as well as the interest of artists working in these mediums on themes like artificial intelligence, biotechnology and genetic manipulation, real and virtual worlds, surveillance and profiling, and the technological and architectural configuration of the environment. The exhibition is a co-production of the Daniel Langlois Foundation and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

In addition to celebrating the commitment of one of Quebec's most important patrons, this exhibition introduces Montreal and Quebec audiences to works that are little known because they are never or rarely exhibited here. These works and artistic practices are on the cutting edge of the use of new technologies for expression and artistic research. As Roger Malina, editor of Leonardo, Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technologies, explains, "A new generation of artists are now at work. [..] Just as the Impressionists reappropriated daily life and the landscape, [..] today's artists are using all the technologies at their disposal to create new vision of our place in the wider world."

The artists

Works by the following artists are presented in the exhibition: Jim Campbell (USA), Jessica Field (Canada), Lynn Hershman Leeson (USA), Eduardo Kac (Brazil/USA), Catherine Richards (Canada), Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Mexico/Canada), David Rokeby (Canada), Marie Chouinard (Canada), Philip Beesley (Canada) and Luc Courchesne (Canada). "In [their] works, there is a discourse between art and science, the real and the virtual, human language and that of machines, interactive spaces and their human users," says Jean Gagnon, Executive Director of the Daniel Langlois Foundation and curator of the exhibition.

An unusual experience for visitors

Exhibition visitors will have a very special experience that is likely to shake up a few aesthetic notions and leave no one indifferent. Several works, in fact, interact with the visitors, by reacting to their movements, for example, stimulating visitors' conversations by inspiring feelings of wonder and puzzlement. Other works will provoke reflection on major ethical questions surrounding the issues of our time, with its technologies, such as genetic manipulation, that are both creative and destructive.

A celebration and a window on the contemporary world

"Through this exhibition, the MMFA wanted to underline the important contribution Daniel Langlois has made in raising Montreal's profile and in supporting artists and art organizations both here and abroad," said Nathalie Bondil, Director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "The Museum was also willing to associate itself with his daring vision of contemporary art: art that is in tune with the technologies of its time, art that interacts with its era. We are especially pleased to present such a unique exhibition with an international scope, a true consecration of electronic art."

The exhibition e-art: New Technologies and Contemporary Art – Ten Years of Accomplishments by the Daniel Langlois Foundation is accompanied by an online catalogue that can be found at the following address: www.mmfa.qc.ca/e-art. A printed version will be given to each visitor.

Jean Gagnon, Executive Director of the Daniel Langlois Foundation, is the curator of the exhibition, organized in collaboration with Stéphane Aquin, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Associate Curator of the exhibition. The exhibition was designed by Atelier Big City. e-art: New Technologies and Contemporary Art – Ten Years of Accomplishments by the Daniel Langlois Foundation benefits from the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. -- www.mmfa.qc.ca