On the Horizon: Amancio Williams selected by Studio Muoto at the CCA

On the Horizon: Amancio Williams selected by Studio Muoto at the CCA

Visual Arts

Montreal visual arts calendar for Fall 2023

by Savannah Stewart

Exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, the MAC, the CCA, Pointe-à-Callière and PHI Centre plus the MOMENTA Biennale and Expo World Press Photo.

A Montreal visual arts calendar for back-to-school season.

On the Horizon: Amancio Williams selected by Studio Muoto

The Canadian Centre for Architecture is displaying the sketches, photos and correspondences of renowned Argentinian modern architect Amancio Williams, with a particular focus on two projects that never materialized: a Buenos Aires airport and the Cruz en el Río de la Plata church. Other than their incompletion, what these projects have in common is a negotiation with horizons and the capacity of modern architecture to elevate the human experience of navigating through space. This exhibition is the first in a series of three that will explore different aspects of the pioneering modern architect’s work. On the Horizon: Amancio Williams selected by Studio Muoto at the CCA (1920 Baile) through Sept. 17

CCA (Montreal Arts Calendar)

Expo World Press Photo 

A must-see annual exhibit showcasing the best in photography and photojournalism from around the globe, the Expo World Press Photo features the works of over 3,700 photographers telling the stories that shaped our world in the past year. A new addition to this year’s program is an exhibition of 20 photos in the running for the Antoine Desillets award, presented by the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec to recognize the best in Quebec-based photojournalism. Expo World Press Photo Montreal continues at Marché Bonsecours (350 St-Paul E.) through Oct. 15

Expo World Press Photo (Montreal Arts Calendar)

Egypt. Three Millennia on the Nile

Few ancient civilizations have captivated the public imagination as much as Egypt, whose mysterious customs and beliefs sparked a wave of Egyptomania in Victorian England that has reverberated through time and space. Now, over 300 artefacts from Italy’s Museo Egizio are on display for Montrealers to marvel at, providing a glimpse into a society that thrived over three millennia, until the Roman invasion. Egypt. Three Millennia on the Nile continues at Pointe-à-Callière (350 Place Royale) through Oct. 15

Pointe-à-Callière (Montreal Arts Calendar)

Habitat Sonore: Listening room

The PHI Centre’s listening room promises a carefully curated musical experience featuring a changing soundtrack of local and international musicians. In a space designed for the attendees’ comfort and artists’ creative flexibility, the music is accompanied by any multisensorial element the musician deems beneficial in enhancing the listening experiences: colour therapy, visual works, immersive sound and more. Habitat Sonore continues at PHI Centre (407 St-Pierre) through Oct. 20

MOMENTA Biennale de l’image

Montreal’s leading contemporary arts festival returns this season with 23 exhibitions presented at 15 locations across the city. With the theme “Masquerades: Drawn to Metamorphosis,” curator Ji-Yoon Han aims “to explore the dynamics of visibility and invisibility that shape representations of the self and the other from the metamorphic potentials of mimicry.” With work by artists from 15 different countries and four Indigenous nations in Canada, the festival’s local talent includes Lindsay Katsitsakatste Delaronde, a Kanien’kehá:ka artist from Kahnawake. Her exhibit Gemini: TEHNIKHEN (twins) presented at Optica Centre d’art contemporain, delves into ancestry and self-awareness, and what connects us to animals and the earth that surrounds us. MOMENTA Biennale de l’image is on at various locations through Oct. 22.

MOMENTA Biennale de l’image (Montreal Arts Calendar)

Sex, Desire and Data

In this immersive exhibition, the audience experiences seven different multisensorial works delving into the intersection of technology and sexuality. Exploring modern technology like artificial intelligence, algorithms and dating apps, the engaging pieces take on subjects like consent, queerness, seduction and pornography. Get your friends together and plan about an hour to look into love and lust in the modern age via this exhibition. Sex, Desire and Data is on at PHI Centre (407 St-Pierre) through Oct. 31.

PHI Centre (Montreal Arts Calendar)

The Pop of Life!

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has dug out its entire collection of pop art to display in this exhibition — and yes, that includes some Warhols. Feast your eyes on this high-colour, high-contrast, revolutionary art movement that drew inspiration from the consumerism and mass production of 1960s North America. The exhibit also features work by Canadian artists Pierre Ayot, Edmund Alleyn and Joyce Wieland, and some other big pop art names like Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselmann and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Pop of Life! is on at the Museum of Fine Arts (1380 Sherbrooke W.), through March 24, 2024.

Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal Arts Calendar)

Fluid Fossils

Created specifically for the Musée d’art contemporain, artist Anna Binta Diallo’s Fluid fossils is a mural reflecting on preservation and fossilization. Characters made out of earth textures fill up the space, becoming fossils in their own right, inviting a reflection on what we leave behind for future generations. As the exhibit’s description explains, “Diallo invites us to reflect on our own place in history and, more importantly, of the responsibility we bear to protect and celebrate the fragile heritage that was transmitted to us.” Born in Dakar, raised in Manitoba and now living in Montreal, Diallo explores memory in many forms through her work. Fluid Fossils is at the Musée d’art contemporain (Place Ville-Marie, #11220) through March 31, 2024.

MAC (Montreal Arts Calendar)

For more Montreal art events, please visit our daily To-Do List and Event listings.

This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue of Cult MTL.

For our latest in arts and life, please visit the Arts & Life section.

Posted in Visual Arts

by Savannah Stewart

Contributing editor for Arts
Savannah Stewart is a writer, translator and copy editor currently reporting with The Eastern Door. She is happiest writing about art, language and culture in Montreal and Kahnawake.