The Image in its Own RightVIDÉOGRAPHE at the MUSÉE D’ART DE JOLIETTE

The Image in its Own Right
VIDÉOGRAPHE at the MUSÉE D’ART DE JOLIETTE

Exhibition

October 14, 2017 - January 7, 2018

at the Musée d'art de Joliette

Videos by: Louise Bourque, Charles-André Coderre, Clint Enns, Mike Hoolboom
Curator: Karine Boulanger

Opening:
Saturday, October 14, 2-5pm
145, rue du Père-Wilfrid-Corbeil
Joliette (Québec) J6E 4T4

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This presentation of four short films from Vidéographe’s collection represents the first collaboration between the Montréal artist-run centre and the Musée d’art de Joliette.

In a media world dominated by narrative and the spectacular, experimental cinema can be disconcerting. It invites us to discover other visual languages, techniques, and highly personal approaches to aesthetics.

The four films by artists Louise Bourque, Charles-André Coderre, Clint Enns and Mike Hoolboom brought together in this program exemplify the little-known vitality of contemporary experimental cinema in Quebec and Canada. Each one explores the expressive possibilities of film in its own way, through grain, scratch, photochemical degradation, or the effects of age. The image’s textures, colors, speed, legibility and abstractions all become the artists’ primary materials, to which are added sound and the written or spoken word. These films create rich cerebral universes evoking memories, a sense of loss, nostalgia, or absence.

In Mike Hoolboom’s Colour My World (2017), the pure abstraction of the image combined with the evocative power of poetic text renders the identities ‘us’ and ‘I’ uncertain and encompassing, touching on the intimate and political. From the sumptuous visual effects of Granular Film – Beirut (2016) emerge fragments of memories of travel that, according to Charles-André Coderre, ‘now have their own life separate from my existence’. In Clint Enns’ Summer Song (2014), the grainy 8mm image evokes family films and images from the past, while the film’s fragmented editing reflects the leaps and flaws of memory. The highly complex Auto portrait / Self Portrait Post Partum (2013) dissects lost love on the thresholds of archetype and intimacy: pop music, quotations, self-representation and interventions on the image seem alternately to reveal and distort the life of Louise Bourque. The image serves as both ‘a mirror and a door’*; it escapes the self and becomes an image in its own right.

Karine Boulanger, curator, Vidéographe

* Mike Hoolboom, Colour My World, 2017

Biographies
The filmmaker Louise Bourque recently moved back to Montréal after spending 30 years in the United States and elsewhere. Her films have been screened in more than forty-five countries and broadcast on PBS and the Sundance Channel in the US as well as on Télé-Québec in Canada and SBS in Australia. Her work has been presented by major galleries and museums worldwide, including the Musée de la Civilisation and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Québec city, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC.

Charles-André Coderre is a Montréal-based filmmaker. He holds a Master’s degree from Université de Montréal exploring the subject of contemporary experimental cinema and is a collaborator of the magazine 24 images. Dedicated to working with analog techniques, he is a member of the Montreal collective of experimental cinema Double Negative. He is also involved in the audiovisual project Jerusalem In My Heart. He recently completed his first feature film, Déserts (2016), co-directed with Yann-Manuel Hernandez. charlesandrecoderre.com

Clint Enns is a video artist living in Montréal. His work, primarily dealing with moving images created with broken and/or outdated technologies, has been shown both nationally and internationally in galleries, festivals, alternative spaces and microcinemas. He holds a Master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Manitoba, and has recently received a Master’s degree in cinema and media from York University where he is currently pursuing a PhD. His writings and interviews have appeared in Leonardo, Millennium Film Journal, Incite! Journal of Experimental Media and Spectacular Optical. Vimeo.com/clintenns

Mike Hoolboom is a Canadian artist working in film and video. He has made over eighty films and videos, and although he chose to withdraw from circulation most of them, approximately a dozen remain on view. His work has appeared in over four hundred festivals, garnering thirty awards. He has been granted the Tom Berner Award for community service and three lifetime achievement awards, the first from the city of Toronto, and the second from the Mediawave Festival in Hungary. In 2017, he won the Governor General’s award in Visuals and Media Arts – the highest accolade attributed in Canada to an artist in recognition of their contribution to the visual and media arts. Mikehoolboom.com

@Charlotte Clermont, Plants Are Like People, 2018_soutien_technique_cover_mars2022

Technical Support Program

Call for submissions

Deadline : March 1st, 2022

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Deadline : March 1st, 2021

* New: 4 calls for submissions per year

Program description

The Technical Support Program is intended to support artists interested in experimentation and in pushing the boundaries of the moving image in all its forms.
This support can be used in the production phase of the project or in the post-production phase.

A total of 4 calls for submissions per year will be made, for which the following are the deadlines;

March 1st (for projects that will start between April and June)
June 1st (for projects that will start between July and September)
September 1st (for projects that will start between October and December)
December 1st (for projects that will start between January and March)

Please note that 2 projects per call for submissions will be selected.

Artists selected under this program have free access to:

Our editing suites, sound booth and digitizing equipment for a maximum of two weeks. These two weeks can be contiguous or spread over 3 months.
Free access to available equipment belonging to Vidéographe.
Two meetings with Vidéographe’s team to discuss the project and its circulation potential: one meeting at the start of the project in order to specify the needs and a second meeting at the end of the project.
The possibility of organizing a private screening at Vidéographe.

It is not necessary to be a member of Vidéographe to apply; however, should your proposal be accepted, we will ask that you become a member. Once you have signed the agreement, you will have three months to take advantage of the benefits that this program has to offer. Regular membership fees are $50 + tx per year and student membership fees are $25 + tx per year.

We are looking to support independent experimental or documentary works that stand apart for their currency and endeavour to renew the artistic language. We will accept proposals for single-channel video, installation, Web-based work, and all other forms of moving image. We consider all genres—video art, experimental work, fiction, documentary or essay form, animation, dance video, and videoclip. Please note that all works must be independent and non-commercial. Projects of a conventional nature, such as classic short narrative film or television documentary will not be considered.

Once your project is finished, you may submit it for active distribution by Vidéographe. Please note however that acceptance into the Technical Support Program does not guarantee that your work will be distributed.

Required

Candidates must possess full editorial and creative control of the project.
Projects must be independent and non-commercial.
Projects that have received support through this program may not be re-submitted.
Student projects are not admissible.
We encourage traditionally under-represented artists to submit a project. Vidéographe is driven by the conviction that multiple points of views are necessary to enrich society and the discipline we work in.

Selection process

Works will be chosen by a selection committee made up of Vidéographe staff and members.

Projects that are retained will be subject to a contractual agreement between the artist and Vidéographe. Schedules, revised budgets, and requirements regarding equipment, rooms, and technical support will be planned and clearly laid out, as will the terms and conditions relative to each party.

Application file:

Contact information and website if applicable
Project description (500 words)
Schedule; (Overall project timeline and detailed timeline for support for creation).
Technical needs; (Please consult our website for more details on our editing suites and equipment).
Resume.
Supporting documentation (current or past projects);
Maximum 10 minutes of video footage. Please send a link to your video(s). Do not forget to include the password if applicable; and/or maximum 15 images (max: 1024 px wide, 72 dpi); sketches, plans, and mock-ups may also be submitted in PDF format.

Submission of your file

Applications will be accepted by email only. An acknowledgment of receipt will be sent. Please write TECHNICAL SUPPORT PROGRAM in the subject heading of your email and send your file to info@videographe.org. Please send your file as a SINGLE PDF document (including links to videos). Files found in the text section of the email will not be taken into account.

Please allow three weeks for a response. Vidéographe chooses eight projects per year.

Illustration: Lee Lai

Eleven cultural organizations in Montreal affirm or reaffirm their endorsement of PACBI and restate their commitment to the liberation of Palestine.

PRESS RELEASE

In a strong statement of solidarity, eleven cultural organizations in Montreal have officially endorsed the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), highlighting their commitment to the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This collective action underscores the essential role of culture in resisting colonial oppression and supporting the liberation of Palestine. While a ceasefire agreement has been partially reached, this support affirms that the struggle for justice, resistance, and liberation is more important than ever.

The BDS movement, launched in 2004 by Palestinian civil society, calls for sustained and nonviolent pressure to end the Israeli colonial project and the ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands. The demands of the movement are as follows :

End the occupation and colonization of all Palestinian lands and dismantle the apartheid wall
Recognize the full rights of Palestinians to equality, both within the 1948 borders and in the occupied territories
Uphold the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, as enshrined in international law and United Nations Resolution 194.

By supporting PACBI, these organizations reject complicity in the normalization of the Israeli colonial regime. On the contrary, they commit to supporting Palestinian self-determination by promoting artistic practices and cultural collaborations that resist colonial oppression and amplify the voices of liberation.

In October 2023, over 4,000 Canadian artists and cultural workers signed a solidarity letter stating: ”As artists, cultural workers, and academics, we firmly support the Palestinian struggle for freedom and against all forms of racism and colonial violence.” This collective statement underscores the belief that art is inherently political and that artists have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with oppressed communities, including Palestinians. (Hernandez, Cassie. “4,000 Canadian Artists and Cultural Workers Sign Palestine Solidarity Letter.” Hyperallergic, 20 Oct. 2023.)

Montreal, known for its vibrant cultural landscape, has a long history of engagement in global struggles for justice. This collective decision reflects a growing awareness among cultural workers of the importance of international solidarity in the fight against colonialism and apartheid.

This support comes at a critical time, as Palestinians face escalating land theft, systemic violence, and forced displacement under the ongoing Israeli occupation. The decision of these organizations to join PACBI is a long-awaited declaration that culture must align with the values of justice and liberation.

The organizations supporting this initiative are joining a growing global movement of artists, academics, and cultural workers committed to supporting the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation and self-determination. These organizations hope that more groups will adopt PACBI across Quebec and Canada.

To date, the following organizations have united their efforts to support or reaffirm their commitments to PACBI: Ada X, articule, Atelier La Coulée, Céline Bureau, Centre Clark, Centre des arts actuels SKOL, Dazibao, Metonymy Press, Oboro, PME-ART, and Vidéographe.

About PACBI

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was launched in 2004 as part of the BDS movement. It calls on cultural institutions and individuals to refuse complicity in violations of international law and human rights committed by the colonial regime, emphasizing the transformative power of global solidarity. PACBI is committed to freedom of expression as outlined in the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and, in principle, rejects boycotts of individuals based on their opinions or identity (such as citizenship, race, gender, or religion).