Talk: Mélanie Bouteloup
Friday, October 14, 7pm
Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre
In 2010 Mélanie Bouteloup co-founded Bétonsalon, a centre for art and research in Paris that is integrated into the campus of University Paris 7 in ZAC Paris Rive Gauche, a neighbourhood undergoing dramatic restructuring. It was founded with an interest in diversifying the visual art ecology in Paris by introducing new frameworks for artist-run research, production and discourse. Bétonsalon's program of exhibitions, performances, seminars, and discussions considers the intersection of art and university research with the ambition to question normalized forms of production, classification and distribution of knowledge.
In 2016 Bétonsalon inaugurated Villa Vassilieff, its second site of research, exhibitions and programs. Villa Vassilieff is located in the heart of Montparnasse, on the site of Russian painter Marie Vassilieff's former studio. In the early twentieth century Vassilieff ran an atelier and canteen for artists, inaugurated Académie Vassilieff and opened the Vassilieff Museum. Until 2013, the villa housed the Musée du Montparnasse. Under the direction of Bétonsalon, the site will be reimagined as a residence and studio for international artists and researchers to address the historical and contemporary conditions of Montparnasse.
Bouteloup will introduce Villa Vassilieff as a historical and contemporary site of artistic and intellectual production. She will discuss Bétonsalon’s vision to create relevant conditions for critical collaboration between academic, artistic and resident communities, while fostering diversity and international exchange, and advocating for the crucial role art must play in society today.
Mélanie Bouteloup is a co-founder and the current director of Bétonsalon in Paris, France. Over the last ten years, she has curated numerous projects in various forms that anchor research in society on process-based, collaborative and discursive levels, following different time spans, in cooperation with various local, national and international organizations. In 2012, She was the associate curator with artistic director Okwui Enwezor of the Paris Triennale, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Communication/DGCA, the Centre National des Arts Plastiques and the Palais de Tokyo. In 2014 she curated Something More Than a Succession of Notes at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery in Toronto.
Supported by the Consulat Général de France à Vancouver.
Video
Mélanie Bouteloup Talk
Friday, October 14, 7pm
Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre
