When the La Biennale de Montreal (BNLMTL) takes over the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal this fall, some 60 artists will be featured in curator Philippe Pirotte’s exhibition “Le Grand Balcon,” or “The Grand Balcony.” This afternoon, the biennial announced a preliminary list of 43 participating artists, selected by Pirotte with assistance from curatorial advisors Corey McCorkle, Aseman Sabet, and Kitty Scott.
Several new works will debut at the biennial. New York-based Canadian artist Moyra Davey will premiere a new film, Hemlock Forest, a follow-up to 2011’s Les Goddesses. Angst, a new production from Germany’s Anne Imfof that will combine elements of drawing, sculpture, and installation with a live opera, will be co-produced by Kunsthall Basel and Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Pirotte told artnet News in an email that he is “also looking forward to New York artist Marina Rosenfeld‘s works on an exciting new project, engaging the musicians of Les Fuseliers Mont-Royal, an infantry regiment of the Canadian Army.”
Moyra Davey, Hemlock Forest (2016), production still. Courtesy of the Montreal Biennial.
“It’s been an exciting endeavor to think about this Biennale over the last year, traveling across Canada to learn about what’s going on in Montréal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver,” said Pirotte in a statement. “With so many new works, and with artists working in so many places around the world, ‘Le Grand Balcon’ will be in a state of becoming all the way to the opening.”
The exhibition will also appear at various sites across the city; it takes its name from Jean Genet’s Le Balcon, or The Balcony, a play set in a city undergoing a revolution. The action takes place inside a brothel, a microcosm that reflects the larger political events taking place outside its walls.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Thread (2015). Courtesy of photographer Max Yawney; the artist; Victoria Miro, London; and the Montreal Biennial.
Here is the preliminary list of artists and collectives:
Haig Aivazian (Lebanon)
Njideka Akunyili Crosby (Nigeria/USA)
Knut Åsdam (Norway)
Eric Baudelaire (France)
Thomas Bayrle (Germany)
Nadia Belerique (Canada)
Valérie Blass (Canada)
Michael Blum (Israel/Germany/France/Canada)
Shannon Bool (Canada/Germany)
Dineo Seshee Bopape (South Africa)
Elaine Cameron-Weir (Canada/USA)
Njideka Akunyili Crosby (Nigeria/USA)
Chris Curreri (Canada)
Moyra Davey (Canada/USA)
Nicole Eisenman (USA)
Em’kal Eyongakpa (Cameroon/The Netherlands)
Liao Guohe (China) Judith Hopf (Germany)
Anne Imhof (Germany)
Luis Jacob (Peru/Canada)
Myriam Jacob-Allard (Canada) Brian Jungen (Canada)
Hassan Khan (Egypt)
Meiro Koizumi (Japan)
Zac Langdon-Pole (New Zealand/Germany)
Tanya Lukin Linklater (USA/Canada)
Kerry James Marshall (USA) Corey McCorkle (USA)
Nathalie Melikian (Canada/Sweden)
Joe Namy (Lebanon/USA)
Shahryar Nashat (Switzerland/Germany)
Camille Norment (USA/Norway)
Celia Perrin Sidarous (Canada)
PURE FICTION (Germany)
Marina Rosenfeld (USA)
Cameron Rowland (USA)
Ben Schumacher (Canada/USA)
Walter Scott (Canada)
Benjamin Seror (France/Belgium)
Frances Stark (USA)
Luke Willis Thompson (New Zealand/UK)
David Gheron Tretiakoff (France/Belgium)
Luc Tuymans (Belgium)
Jacob Wren (Canada)
Haegue Yang (Germany/South Korea)
Xu Zhen (China)