Press kit no. 872-01

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Press Kit | no. 872-01

La Fabrique

Montreal, Canada

Jean-Maxime Dufresne

Product, Furniture

A Centre Turbine project presented in collaboration with SKOL in Montreal.

Montreal, Canada, 2011-10-24 - In the winter of 2011, La Fabrique set up its activities in the Rheaume Pavillion of the Monseigneur-Richard High School in Verdun: a fascinating indoor world shaped by brutalist concrete architecture, typically found in Quebec school constructions of the 1970s. La Fabrique initially raised questions: How can one breathe life into this environment and architecture devoted to pedagogy? How can artistic action foster reflection about this space?

What followed was a dissemination of graphic manifestos and printed quotes by participating students in which they reflected on their built environment and its social ramifications. This acted as a catalyst for the artist and two groups of students to dedicate themselves to a core production of unusual furniture, created from obsolete equipment found in the school’s storage spaces: an armada of hybrid objects was gradually inserted into the school to enhance its public dimension, and to foster the emergence of social interaction spaces within it. These unexpected actions questioned the students’ relationship with their school microcosm and, by extension, that of their own city.

At Skol, the project will conclude with a photographic documentation as well as the production of a journal in collaboration with designer Benoit Pontbriand and including an essay by François Deck. An opportunity to reflect on the adventure of juggling between the openness of the creative process and the often demanding cycles of the school calendar: a learning situation for all involved, where working rhythms adapt to each other, where the flexibilities of artistic autonomy and pedagogical action are mutually put to the test, and the unknown becomes a project’s essential ally.

This residency project was developed with the participation of students of Monseigneur-Richard High School, with the support of the Libres comme l’art program of the Conseil des Arts de Montréal (CAM), the Conférence régionale des élus de Montréal (CRÉ) and the ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (Programme de soutien à l’école montréalaise).

Art centers links
TURBINE Centre de création pédagogique : www.centreturbine.org
Centre des arts actuels Skol :
www.skol.ca

Bio
Jean-Maxime Dufresne is an artist trained in architecture and multimedia. Delving into the critical field of spatial practices, his work investigates transformations that shape urban territories and often problematizes the use of technological mediation. Architectural process is considered both as an inquiry and as a material production permeated by temporary  experiences that primarily mix installation, video, sound, urban intervention and public workshops. In 2009, Skol art center played host to Agency, a multipartite installation which brought together thought-provoking interviews with fifteen actors in Montréal’s cultural field on space as contested, shared and reinvented matter. His individual and collective work with artist Virginie Laganière or SYN- has been presented in Canada (Sporobole, Optica, Vox, Fonderie Darling, Action Art Actuel) and abroad (Adaptive Actions / Madrid Abierto, Madrid, Spain ; IAGU, Dakar, Senegal ; Temporary Urban Interstices, RDS, ISCRA, aaa, Paris ; Actions: What You Can Do With the City, CCA / Graham Foundation, Chicago, USA ; 1st International Architecture Biennale Rottterdam, Netherlands). He regularly contributes to the Adaptive Actions platform with published essays, online documentation and urban walks produced for chapters in Madrid and Montreal. Since 2007, he has been a board member of Dare-Dare — an artist-run centre operating in the public realm — and involved with the Educational Programs team at the CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture).

Credits
Project name : La Fabrique
Location: Monseigneur-Richard High School, Rhéaume pavilion, Verdun, Québec
Artist / Designer : Jean-Maxime Dufresne
Project coordinator : Adriana de Oliveira, Centre Turbine
Project participants : Students from Monseigneur-Richard High School, Marianne Despars, Johanne Minna, Mathieu Saulnier, Marc-André Viens, Josée Lapierre, Renata Stachiewicz-Kerr, Jacques Beaudry, Jérôme Drouin, Yannick Bemman
Completion date : June 2011
Financial support : Libres comme l’art Program, an initiative from the Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM), the Conférence régionale des élus de Montréal (CRÉ) and the ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (Programme de soutien à l’école montréalaise).
Publication design : Jean-Maxime Dufresne and Benoît Pontbriand
Special acknowledgements to Yves Amyot (Centre Turbine) and Anne Bertrand (Centre des arts actuels Skol)
Photography : Jean-Maxime Dufresne
Media contact : Jean-Maxime Dufresne, jmdufresne@gmail.com ;
Adriana de Oliveira, Centre Turbine, aolive@cooptel.qc.ca

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For more information

Media contact

Jean-Maxime Dufresne
jmdufresne@gmail.com

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