A new Guest Curator and a new theme
Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal was recently delighted to announce that Gaëlle Morel will assume the role of Guest Curator for the 11th presentation of our event which will take place in September 2009.
Art historian and independent curator Gaëlle Morel holds a doctorate in the history of contemporary art from Université Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne. Secretary General of the Société française de photographie, she is also a member of the editorial committee of Études photographiques. Author of a number of articles and book chapters, Gaëlle Morel is interested in the manner in which contemporary photography is presented, the multiplicity of ways in which it occupies gallery and other spaces.
Within the framework of her theme The Spaces of the Image, the 11th presentation of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal will explore the questions of mechanisms and staging, perceived as essential keys to reading the different photographic projects presented in recent years. It is around this stimulating theme that all the exhibitions, the publication and other activities of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal 2009 will be organized.
Call for submissions will run from March 28 to May 5, 2008 inclusively.
Chuck Samuels
Administrative Director
The Spaces of the Image
Over the past thirty years, photography has been integrated into the field of contemporary art through the work of numerous artists whose practices bring images together with scenographic experiences. The 11th presentation of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal will explore the questions of mechanisms and staging, perceived as essential keys to reading the different photographic projects presented in recent years.
Due to the range of possibilities – the technical diversity of film and digital cameras, formats, printing procedures, and the many alternatives offered in terms of museography and occupation of the space – photographers are increasingly called upon to become aware of their relationship with the exhibition. Production methods and viewing modalities, as integral parts of projects, exert a direct influence on the aesthetic of images. Enlargement and monumentalization of prints, slide projection, in situ conception, the making of objects and machines, visual and audio mise en scène – for each approach there is a corresponding pragmatic use of display techniques that determines the form and meaning of the images shown.
Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal 2009 will present a series of exhibitions attentive to these production conditions and scenographic issues, offering visitors a fresh approach to works and a new look at the contemporary art-photography scene.
Gaëlle Morel
Guest Curator
Biographical note
Gaëlle Morel is an art historian and independent curator. She received her PhD in the history of contemporary art from Université Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her research and recent work deal with the figure of the artist as author in French contemporary photography and the artistic and cultural legitimation of the medium. Secretary General of the Société française de photographie, she is also a member of the editorial committee of Études photographiques. She has written essays that have appeared in a number of magazines and books. Recently, she edited Les Derniers Tableaux. Photojournalisme et art contemporain_ (Paris: Éditions des Archives Contemporaines, 2008). She is currently preparing an exhibition on Berenice Abbott for Jeu de Paume in Paris (2010), as well as a general book on photography for Éditions Larousse, in collaboration with Thierry Gervais (Paris, 2008).