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Ellen Art Gallery's second mandate: Research

Concordia's Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery aims to encourage art "as a way of thinking"
January 26, 2011
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By Matthew Hays


For Michèle Thériault, a gallery or museum should be about much more than just the art. “For me, art is not just about the objects,” says the director of Concordia’s Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery. “It’s about how we show it – the curating and the production of art have equal importance.”

Thériault, who has been director of the Ellen Art Gallery since 2003, says their specific mandate goes beyond simply displaying art. “Yes, there is beauty in the art, but that’s almost beside the point. Art is a way of thinking. Especially at a university gallery, I think it’s important to think about art in a critical way – to assess it and criticize it. Everything we do is in that light.”

The Ellen Art Gallery, which is located in downtown Montreal in the McConnell Library Building, often features a number of events around their installations or exhibitions, including lectures, panel discussions, performances and publications.

From the exhibition
From the exhibition Nelson Henricks: Time Will Have Passed. | Image courtesy of the Ellen Art Gallery.

They earned critical kudos for their book/program Nelson Henricks: Time Will Have Passed on their recent show of the works of Henricks, who teaches in Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts. The Ellen Art Gallery’s mandate is to investigate current issues in contemporary art and in curating on a national and international level, which can include the practices of faculty and students.

“I like the idea of people entering the gallery and having their ideas of what art is disturbed,” says Thériault. “What is art? It doesn’t exist without a context. It’s very important that people think about that, and think about the political and social situations the artists faced while making it.”

The exhibit Martha Wilson: Staging the Self continues at the Ellen Gallery in the J. W. McConnell Library Building, 1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Room LB-165, until Feb. 19.

For an overview of all four Concordia galleries, look for the Journal on January 31.

Related link:
•  Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery



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