La Biennale de Montréal: L'Avenir (looking forward) (2014)
BNLMTL 2014 - L'Avenir (looking forward)
La Biennale de Montréal
Montreal, Canada
Curated by Gregory Burke, Peggy Gale, Lesley Johnstone and Mark Lanctôt
October 22, 2014 - January 4, 2015
L’avenir (looking forward) examines recent developments in contemporary art in relationship to speculation, futurity and the history of future projection, and the currency of projecting into the future. The idea of “what is to come” provides a framework for considering our current condition from geopolitical, environmental, technological, scientific, social, cultural, ideological, economic, ethical and metaphysical perspectives.
Accordingly, BNLMTL 2014 will present film, sculpture, photography, painting and installation that respond to current conditions by considering “what is to come”. It will include works that are socially responsive to challenges presented by possible futures and situational, performative and temporal practices that address the vexed questions of the current agency of art, its transformational potential and ability to influence the future.
States of performance and temporality are evoked in the project title by the idea of “looking forward”, which involves an action that simultaneously engages the present and future. To look forward implies picturing a future moment: this process is intrinsic to the project, which examines the relationship of sight to consciousness and its role in both witnessing the present and imagining the future. Ultimately,L’avenir (looking forward) aims to look backwards from possible futures to consider the present and to address the connectedness of the local to the global.
Works presented: The Prophets and The Golden USB. The first iteration of The Golden USB was produced by La Biennale de Montréal for BNLMTL 2014.
