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Momenta 2019 – 16th Image Biennale, Montreal
2 minUnder the theme "The Life of Things", Momenta 2019 explores the character of the object translated into images in Montreal from 5 September to 13 October. The backdrop is a consumer society where objects are given dizzying visibility, and accumulated in this way become invisible.
A short tour of the biennale, organised under the curatorship of María Wills Londoño, in collaboration with Audrey Genois and Maude Johnson, following seven French and African photographers.
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2/9Triangle Trade by Jérôme Havre, Cauleen Smith et Camille Turner (2017)
Triangle Trade explores the artists’, all three of whom are of African descent, relationship to the territory and their sense of belonging. The 14-minute video was the result of a year-long cross-border conversation between the United States and Canada.
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3/9Open Your Eyes by Kader Attia (2010)
Juxtaposing portraits of soldiers during the First World War and photographs of objects restored in the warehouses of African museums, this dyptic allows Kader Attia to examine the complex relations between East and West. In it, the artist explores the "restoration" of the human body, comparing it to the concept of "repair" in extra-Occidental cultures.
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4/9Luisa Fernanda by Karen Paulina Biswell (2017)
The Ellas series, to which this photograph belongs, features women portrayed in ambivalent poses and with exaggerated casualness. It seeks to provoke a critical view of the very concept of femininity andthe objectification of women’s bodies.
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5/9La Libertad by Laura Huertas Millán (2017)
In La Libertad, Laura Huertas Millán follows a group of Mexican weavers who use a pre-Hispanic technique that has been preserved for centuries. The film explores the links between craft and freedom.
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6/9Fortia by Lola Keyezua (2017)
With the photographic series Fortia ("strength"), Lola Keyezua depicts a mysterious empress wearing masks, made in collaboration with a group of disabled artisans in Luanda, Angola. The artist seeks to transform our view of physical disability.
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7/9Road Signs by Kapwani Kiwang (2012)
By hijacking the processes of ethnographic photography, the artist makes its human subjects invisible, Tanzanian traders who are nevertheless present behind the fronts of their businesses.
Human subjects sit behind a white sheet that simultaneously functions as a screen, frame, and backdrop against which to evaluate trading relationships.
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8/9Untitled (Tornado) #3 by Marina Gadonneix
With the “Phenomena” exhibition, Marina Gadonneix explores avalanches, black holes and hurricanes by capturing scientific replicas. The artist examines the theatricality of the laboratory, a place of experimentation where the world is constantly replayed.
Learn more about Untitled (Tornado) #3
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The Institut français and the project
The participation of Kader Attia (France/Algeria), Karen Paulina Biswell (France/Colombia), Marina Gadonneix (France), Jérôme Havre (France/Canada), Laura Huertas Millán (France/Colombia), Lola Keyezua (Angola) and Kapwani Kiwanga (France/Canada) in Momenta 2019 is supported by the Institut français as part of its IF Incontournable programme. Learn more about the IF Incontournable programme