Border Movements at La Centrale

December 17 to December 20th, 2008
La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, 4296 boul. St-Laurent, Montréal,
Curated by: Tatiana Gomez, Ayesha Hameed, Nahed Mansour, Leila Pourtavaf

In recent years, national borders have emerged as a popular theme within contemporary art. While much of this work explores the complexity of national borders, a primary focus has been to document and represent the experience of migrants and refugees across these borders to a primarily Western audience.

As such, borders have emerged as yet another discursive space where art and politics meet, engage in dialogue, and clash. Such a meeting often creates both an environment of possible experiences for the viewer, asking the viewer to examine her own capacity for empathy, and the opportunity for a voyeuristic Western gaze onto an essentialized subject who is a victim of global forces. In an era where difference, diversity and multiculturalism all become decorative, commercial and stripped of any potency as sites of resistance within contemporary art institutions, it is fair to ask what this new body of work allows and disallows. Is it just another way to elicit empathy from a Western audience through representations of trauma while uncritically engaging with their voyeuristic impulse? Or can it go further to avoid emotional essentialisms and recognize migratory self-determination and inspire social change?

Border Movements will be set up as an exhibition and series of events that attempt to unpack some of these tensions by emphasizing local artistic practices and their relationship to social justice movements dealing with issues of migration and borders. The exhibit challenges the paternalism concomitant with seeing migrant struggles as taking place in vaguely defined locations "over there". This event is envisioned as a means of creating a space for reflection, conversations and skill sharing around creative interventions that deal with the theme of national borders.

Participating Artists:
Nidal El Khairy
Kandis Friesen
Freda Guttman
Nahed Mansour
Anita Schoepp
Ayesha Hameed
Tatiana Gomez
Kader Belaouni
Michael Reeson
Solidarity Across Borders
Brett Story
Stefan Christoff
Punch Clock and Simone Schmidt
Min Sook Lee
Amy Miller
Boban Chaldovich and more…

Events:
December 16, 8pm: Artists Against Apartheid - a night of performances
(Sablo Kafe, 50 St-Zotique east)
December 17, 6-8pm: Opening Panel & Artist Talks 9pm: Vernissage (La
Centrale Galerie Powerhouse)
December 19, 7pm: Video Screening (La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse)