(Vancouver, BC) – grunt gallery and Gallery Gachet are proud to co-present 10 years of State of Emergency (État d’Urgence), a multidisciplinary visual exhibition based on a retrospective of works from 1998-2013 during État d’Urgence (State of Emergency) and Fin Novembre (End of November).
The annual event État d’Urgence (State of Emergency) began in 1998 in downtown Montreal and was created by ATSA, a not-for-profit organization founded by artists Pierre Allard and Annie Roy. It was originally conceived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event itself is a 24-hour, 5-day refugee camp in support of people living homeless and under conditions of poverty. The event was created as a public intervention in the city and includes the provision of food, clothing and shelter as well as the production of hundreds of art works from multidisciplinary backgrounds. État d’Urgence was so successful that it has returned on an annual basis and now, 16 years later, goes by the name Fin Novembre.
The exhibition has been presented in numerous venues in Montreal, as well as cities across the province of Quebec. It is now touring Canada with exhibition dates planned in Fredricton, Calgary and Winnipeg, arriving in Vancouver to be co-exhibited at both grunt gallery and Gallery Gachet.
At grunt gallery, ATSA presents a selection of 30 ATSA art works and archives produced throughout the years of the event from 1997 to 2013, including the montage U pour Urgence presented at the Canadian Architecture Centre, Deposit, Last resort, Under surveillance, The Brasero and a collection of video capsules by Santiago Bertolino, Steve Patry, Henrique Vera Villanueva and Luc Sénécal. This selection shows the evolution of the event and all the political and social difficulties and challenges the artists experienced.
At Gallery Gachet, the 10 years of State of Emergency exhibition features artwork by over 20 artists—local, national and international—who made original contributions to État d’Urgence during the event’s run between 1998 and 2010. Included in these works are collaborative illustrations, sound track and photo projects; paintings on unconventional media; drawings, a survival handbook; miniature cardboard architecture and more.
Join us on Friday April 11 at Gallery Gachet (5:30-7:30) and at grunt gallery (7:30-9:30) for the opening receptions of 10 years of State of Emergency (État d’Urgence). Join us on Saturday April 12th (2-3pm) for the artist talk. These exhibitions run until Saturday May 17th, 2014.
Gallery Gachet (gachet.org), 88 East Cordova Street,
Vancouver, BC V6A1K3
Media Contact: Lee Williams programming@gachet.org 604.687.2468
grunt gallery (grunt.ca) 116-350 East 2nd Ave, Vancouver, BC V5T4R8
Media Contact: Karlene Harvey karlene@grunt.ca | 604.875.9516
ATSA wishes to thank the Conseil des Arts de Montréal en tournée for producing and staging the first exhibition and tour in Montreal, as well as the Conseil des art et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts for the Canada-wide tour.
Gallery Gachet and grunt gallery would like to thank the following funders:
Vancouver Coastal Health, Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver.
Who is ATSA?
ATSA is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 by artists Pierre Allard and Annie Roy. The pair creates transdisciplinary works and events for the public realm that take the form of interventions, installations, performance art and realistic stagings. Their actions are born of a desire to raise public awareness of various social, environmental and heritage issues that are crucial and that need to be addressed. They aim to sway both the public and the media—in short, to motivate as many citizens as possible to take an active role in improving society.
ATSA is recipient of the 2013 Honourable mention for the Mayor’s Democracy Price, the 2011 Giverny Capital price, the 2010 Pratt & Whitney Canada Nature de l’Art Prize awarded by the Conseil des arts de Montréal, the Citoyen de la Culture 2008 award handed out by Les Arts et la Ville and of the Artistes pour la Paix 2008 award.
ATSA is also proud to have been the spokesperson of Artists in the Art of the City Mouvement (2013), 5ème Sommet citoyen de Montréal (2009), 22ème Exposition inter-collégiale d’arts plastiques du Réseau Inter-collégial des Activités Socioculturelle du Québec (RIASQ 2010), and of Journées Québécoises de la Solidarité Internationale (2011). ATSA is a member of the board of RAIQ.