2012-2013 Programming Overview

The 2012-2013 programming was planned while the student strike was in full swing and it reflects the common feelings, questionings and issues that have arisen in its wake, for: “…to resist the tuition hike, is to resist a logic that reduces everything to management and profitability.” It is worth recalling that several artist-run centres closed their doors to take to the street on a hot March day, which became a pivotal moment of the “Maple” spring. Skol has thus favoured artistic proposals that build on this crisis to cast a critical eye on the dominant political landscape, which is all too often characterized by simplistic binary oppositions such as the red squares against the green squares.

The season opens with 11, an exhibition by Steve Giasson that puts the September 11, 2001 WTC attack in New York into perspective: what preceded it, what followed it and how it generated the current climate of fear that persists to this day. The programming will continue with an installation by Arkadi Lavoie Lachapelle whose set-up, evoking the experience of the student rallies and political activism, produces a conducive context for the presentation of a living archive of the Occupy Movement compiled by the duo Koby Rogers Hall and Frédéric Biron Carmel. In December, we will plunge into the renatured world of Fallow la friche, a video work by Jamie Ross in which a homosocial living environment evolves; a utopia-project one wishes were plausible. Throughout the autumn, Laurent Marissal will activate a bulletin board, mounted in an intermediary space, to reveal furtive actions in extension of the Teasing the Furtive (Skol, 2010-2011) project.

In winter, Simon Brown will also intervene in a space outside of the gallery, with his proposal to rethink the artist’s gesture and authorial position by way of question boxes installed in various places. Edith Brunette’s reassessment of the artist’s role will take form in the gallery space. Militant tactics and artistic means come together in a planned chaos that promises to be fertile. This programming will end with Clément de Gaulejac and Wednesday Lupypciw, who will each occupy a room to present their singular and personal perspectives on the education of the artist.

Each artist has been invited to produce a brief summary that describes his or her intention, since, for some, an involvement with Skol is also an opportunity to broaden an evolving artistic research. I not only invite you to read these texts on our new website, but to also attend our activities throughout the year in order to continue living and thinking about  recent political events, the outcome of which remain, at this stage, difficult to assess. In this year of movement, Skol is also experiencing changes within its staff. The Centre maintains a solid core with a committed Board that has now also taken on a programming role. I would like to thank the Board and the Skol team for their active participation in all the programming stages, a funnel process which has come down to what is before you.

Anne Bertrand
July 2012