Whatever the times and regions, artistic and expographic practices maintain very strong links with protest movements and with social and political contestations. As true sounding boards, As a meaningful and resonating bearer, artistic disciplines sometimes become a privileged path for contestation. Today, faced with the many challenges that drive us (ecology, economy, immigration, social...), art is imposing itself as a protest tools that accompany the necessary changes of our society.
Photo credit: Jacob Khrist
Louise Déry holds a PhD in art history and has been the director of the Galerie de l’UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) since 1997. Previously, she was director of the Musée régional de Rimouski before becoming curator of contemporary art at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and then at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Teacher, writer, curator and director, Déry has completed many projects featuring major national and international artists that she has shown in Quebec, Canada or in Europe, USA, Mexico and Asia. She was the curator of the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007, presenting an exhibition of David Altmejd. The author of over fifty exhibition catalogues and several essays in specialized magazines, very active in the international dissemination of art from Quebec and Canada, she is developing a reflection on ethics and museology in relation to contemporary art. Déry has received the first Hnatyshyn Foundation award for curatorial excellence (2007) and has been awarded the Governor General Award in visual arts (2014). She is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada and a Chevalier des arts et des lettres de la République française.
Jacob Khrist is a photographer reporter, he has been working with the French and international media since 2009.
He started photography fifteen years ago, a medium that allows him to continue to develop his sensibilities. He photographs both at night and during the day. As such, Jacob Khrist is also an actor of the Parisian nights, the "fêtes" being for him a kind of societal laboratory.
Wishing to contribute to the building of society and opposed to any form of stigmatization, he followed various movements such as the Femen movement.
Nicolas Grenier holds a BFA from Concordia University, an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. His work has been exhibited internationally. His work is collected by the Musée Nationale des Beaux-Arts du Québec, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the Royal Bank of Canada, the National Bank of Canada, the Caisse de Dépôt du Québec, the Progressive Art Collection and others. Grenier won the Prix Pierre-Ayot for an artist based in Montreal (2016). He lives and works in Montreal and Los Angeles, and is represented by Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
Jennifer Carter is Director of the graduate museology program and Associate professor in the Department of Art History at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Jennifer’s research investigates the global phenomenon of human rights museology, and considers how historical and social justice are negotiated curatorially, pedagogically, and semantically in cultural institutions dedicated to human rights in different geopolitical contexts around the world. Jennifer has published her research widely in English and French. She is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Montreal Holocaust Museum.