Faux plis par hypothèses

In September, Galerie UQO presents Faux plis par hypothèses, a group exhibition curated by Marie-Hélène Leblanc, Director of Galerie UQO, and Louise Déry, Director of Galerie de l’UQAM. The project, supported by the Chief Scientist of Quebec, Rémi Quirion, examines the role of the university gallery in reflecting on the relationship between art and science.

The thirteen artistic bodies of work selected by the curators are presented in five exhibition and research centres in Quebec: Galerie de l’UQAM, Galerie UQO (Université du Québec en Outaouais), Galerie l’Œuvre de l’Autre (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi), Reford Gardens, and Foreman Art Gallery (Bishop’s University). As part of Faux plis par hypothèses, Galerie UQO presents works by the Club de prospection figurée and Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens, as well as an apparatus displaying interventions by all the artists participating in the project.

Faux plis par hypothèses reflects the aspirations of two university gallery curators and directors interested in expressing how a university gallery engages in crucial issues that often concern several research sectors: questions of languages and identities, terrestrials and territories, structures and institutions. The university gallery is precisely the place where daring and promising initiatives, which develop at the intersection of artistic and scientific knowledge, can dismantle preconceived ideas and allow for new research forms and perspectives to emerge with the common view of encountering contemporary art. Galerie UQO and Galerie de l’UQAM actively take part in breaking down the boundaries between disciplines by exhibiting works and inviting artists who invent productive links with scientific content. The conceptual framework of Faux plis par hypothèses is based on the notion of creases (faux plis), considered here metaphorically as biases that are sometimes imposed, sometimes acquired, and sometimes transmitted. Inevitably, though not exclusively, present in university contexts, these creases infiltrate research and creation. How can we identify, undo, and transform them?

The approach of Faux plis par hypothèses also recognizes various types of expertise that are subject to countless vulnerabilities, particularly in terms of the hierarchization of knowledge and the intellectual freedom of artist or scientific researchers who furthermore are subject to an established bureaucratic amplitude, as most of the project’s collaborators can attest to. The curators explain: “At the same time as fruitful alliances, trans-sectoral intersections, and new pollinations between multiple fields of research proliferate, certain creases sneak in and sometimes become entrenched, requiring a form of subterfuge and possible resistance when it comes to confronting an understanding of science and art that is ever less smooth. While folds may conceal glimpses of things, creases reveal twists, manipulations, and discrepancies that tend to upset and mistreat reality. From pleated crumples and twisted ebbs comes a desire to be vigilant and in a state of alert, an inclination to look more closely at something, and an obligation to pay attention.”