Get your art on as Concordia's Art Matters Festival spreads out across the city

If you’re anything like me, perhaps you spent Nuit Blanche wandering the expansive underground “city,” surrounded by drunken sixteen-year-olds, C.H.U.D.s, and curmudgeonly men with sub-par turtlenecks. Fear not, you’ll soon be able to find your fair share of engaging aboveground art when Concordia University kicks off its mammoth Art Matters Festival. Spread out over two weeks, Art Matters consists of exhibitions, vernissages, open houses, performances, parties, and one mysterious white van. Here are some highlights of the student-run festival.

Opening party
Every memorable festival must have at least one rip-roaring party, and the Art Matters opening night holds much promise. Dancing is guaranteed, video projections will be provided, and there’s talk of surprises in store. Four musical acts will take to the stage: atmospheric piano melodies and a strapping vocalist courtesy of Mekele Nocturne, followed by the uptempo psychedelic vibes of Doom Squad. Sometimes invoking the dub vibe of an early Grace Jones, Da Pink Noise will bring their “certified dancing music that’s good for your soul.” Montreal quartet SUUNS headline the night.

Art Matters opening party
Friday, March 2 at 8:30 p.m.
The Darling Foundry | 745 Ottawa St.

Jeffrey Torgerson, part of "Citation" by Clinton Glenn

Citation
Curator: Clinton Glenn
Buttressed by the murmurs of Judith Butler and the spectre of Jacques Derrida, Citation is a show that wrestles with identity, performativity, and the limitations of the physical. What can or cannot be read from the corporeal body? Through prints, performance, and mixed media, the intermingling of sexuality, sex, and gender is pried from the woodwork. The exhibit features work from Nicole Pearson, Frances Enyedy, Kyle Goforth & Gaïa Orain, Caleb Feigin, and Peter Bleumortier. A particularly interesting edition is the work of Jeffrey Torgerson, who infuses embroidery into family photographs of men from the late 1800s and the early 20th century.

Citation
March 2 – March 16
Vernissage: Wednesday, March 7 at 6 p.m.
Galerie AB | 372 Ste. Catherine W., #313

Speed Show
A technologically innovative and topical exhibit, Speed Show’s co-host is Phoqueus Virtual Museum (PMV), a not-for profit art institution that supports artists who work with both traditional and experimental mediums. PMV and Art Matters put out an open call for submissions for coded html proposals. All applicants will have their work exhibited at Buanderie Gold Star Internet Café, though the webpages will face a censorship embargo, as a means of addressing the recent threat to the jurisdictional limitations of the web. And what constitutes a Speed Show, you ask? This form of exhibition, conceptualized by Aram Bartholl, involves taking over an internet café, renting all of the computers, and projecting the selected work for one night only.

Speed Show
Friday, March 9, 7 p.m.–10 p.m.
Buanderie Gold Star Internet Café | 4690 Notre-Dame West

Rachel Woroner, Golden Valley, Photography, 2011 // Part of "My Pregnant Preteen Birthday Vacation With Dad", curated by Nafisa Kaptownwala

My Pregnant Preteen Birthday Vacation with Dad
Curator: Nafisa Kaptownwala
With the help of mementos, nine artists conjur themes of childhood, growth, and change. The exhibit is a mix of film, paintings, and drawings that all embody a specific moment, memory, or relationship. In focusing on pivotal episodes in their upbringing, the contributors show how the time between past events and the present moment alters our conception of memory. Something that was once painfully awkward has since mutated into something funny. Rupturing the notion of nostalgia, My Pregnant Preteen Birthday Vacation with Dad explores the ephemeral nature of memories.

My Pregnant Preteen Birthday Vacation with Dad
March 2 – March 11
Vernissage: Wednesday, March 7 at 6 p.m.
Les Territoires | 372 Ste. Catherine O., #572

"Vehicular Commodities", curated by Raphaële Frigon

Vehicular Commodities
Curator: Raphaële Frigon
The sketchy white van is no longer just the domain of serial killers—artists drive them too! Or rather, people who help set up art shows drive them. While art objects are often understood to function as consumable commodities, the gallery system hides all of the behind-the-scenes mechanisms that make art presentable. Now, you can objectify the nitty-gritty that goes into prepping an exhibit! There’s very little info about this mysterious event—apparently, there will be wine and cheese. The van itself is a model E250 from Ford Motor Company of Canada, and the driver is Pascha Montgomery. The location of the vehicle will be disclosed at some point on Twitter. The van’s Twitter account, @thevanisart, describes itself as “the dissemination of pseudo conceptual bullshit all over Montreal.”

Vehicular Commodities
March 10
@thevanistheart

artmattersfestival.org