‘All art is essentially the result of research’

Since its founding in 1966, Concordia’s Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery has become one of Montreal’s most respected contemporary galleries by producing award-winning exhibitions that challenge notions of art and its place in society.

At its heart, however, the gallery is also a research centre dedicated to expanding knowledge.

“What most people don’t understand is that all art is essentially the result of research,” says Michèle Thériault, the gallery’s director. “Putting on a show means that curators work from an existing body of knowledge to analyse it and see how it comes out in a different visual form.”

A bilingual publication or essay is often produced to further examine issues raised by exhibition programming, thus adding further perspective to the theory and historical context of contemporary art.

Risking an interpretation

The Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery’s current show, Speculations. Risquer l’interprétation, embodies this intersection of research and art.

Delving into the gallery’s expansive permanent collection — including recent acquisitions —  Speculations is an evolving, three-phase project based on curator Mélanie Rainville’s interpretations of the artwork.

Each two- to four-week phase was based on a specific theme; at the conclusion of each stage, the pieces were rearranged to fit a new theme. Speculations is currently in the third phase, and runs until January 31.

The idea was to explore how a specific room effects the interpretation of a certain piece of art, as well as how the other works that surround it change the way it is consumed. This type of approach is meant to put into question the impact of curatorial process vis-à-vis the initial artistic intention of a piece.

In Speculations, another important element related to research was providing accessible support materials — books, leaflets and videos — to help visitors understand the artistic and curatorial intentions of the exhibition. This transformed the gallery into a space dedicated to analysis and critical reflection.

The interaction between these materials was important to Rainville, who sought to further her understanding of the kind of documents that are required to support the interpretations of gallery attendees.

For Rainville, interpretation remained a fluid process throughout the exhibition. How she initially saw the layout of the second and third phases changed as she interacted with the works of art.

“It’s really about how we as curators manage space,” she says. “Speculations invited viewers to evaluate their level of involvement, and their capacity to recall an exhibition’s content once it is no longer represented in the same way.”

Speculations. Risquer l’interprétation runs until January 31, 2015.