TWENTY YEARS OF CIEL VARIABLE: Twenty Years of Photography – Jacques Doyon

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Essays
Authors: Jacques Doyon

[Fall 2007] by Jacques Doyon This is the first part of our review of twenty years of Ciel variable. It offers an overview of the metamorphoses that the magazine has had over the years as photographic practices evolved, their field of application broadened, they were increasingly recognized by the art world, and their institutional environment […]

David Goldblatt, Particulars – Cyril Thomas

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Cyril Thomas | Artists: David Goldblatt

[Fall 2007] This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page. Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, 4 mai – 16 juin 2007

Guy Ben-Ner, Treehouse Kit – Patrice Duhamel

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Patrice Duhamel | Artists: Guy Ben-Ner

[Fall 2007] This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page. Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, 10 février – 22 avril 2007

The Contact Photography Festival, The Constructed Image – Gary Michael Dault

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Gary Michael Dault | Artists: Gyorgy Kepes, Roger Ballen, Stan Denniston

[Fall 2007] Toronto, May 1 – 31, 2007 Every May, Toronto is almost entirely given over to photography, in the guise of the CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival. This past May was the festival’s eleventh annual incarnation. The theme this year was “The Constructed Image” – which, in my estimation, is more or less code for […]

Dubious Views, Subversive Souvenirs – David Garneau

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Exhibition reviews
Authors: David Garneau | Artists: Jin-Me Yoon, Mitch Robertson, Roger Minick

[Fall 2007] online exhibition by Gallery TPW, Toronto, ongoing The emerging phenomenon of the virtual exhibition is creating both tremendous possibilities and challenges, particularly for photographers. Virtual venues offer new ways to disseminate and consider pictures, but current formats tend to privilege the curatorial imaginary. Dubious Views houses two online exhibitions produced by Gallery TPW. […]

Yan Giguère, Choisir – Sylvain Campeau

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Sylvain Campeau | Artists: Yan Giguère

[Fall 2007] This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page. Occurrence, espace d’art et d’essai contemporains, du 17 mars au 21 avril 2007

Ève K. Tremblay, Postures scientifiques – James D. Campbell

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Exhibition reviews
Authors: James D. Campbell | Artists: Eve K. Tremblay

[Fall 2007] Galerie Donald Browne, Montreal, April 7 – May 12, 2007 The photographic speculative fictions that Eve K. Tremblay exhibited at Galerie Donald Browne bore the same enigmatic hallmark as has all her earlier work. Set in some day-after-tomorrow but finally in an indeterminate tense, these works challenge the viewer, who must interpret what […]

Documenta 12 – Petra Halkes

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Petra Halkes | Artists: Allan Sekula, CK Rajan, George Osodi, Luis Jacob, Zoe Leonard, Zofia Kulik

[Fall 2007] Kassel, Germany, June 16 – September 23, 2007 “The big exhibition has no form.” This statement, the first sentence of a preface to the catalogue by curators Roger M. Buergel and Ruth Noack, set the tone for this year’s Documenta. This exhibition was indeed formless, sprawling from the heights of the Cascades at […]

Le flâneur et l’allégorie, Essai sur la photographie de Charles Gagnon – Elitza Dulguerova

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Book Reviews
Authors: Elitza Dulguerova, Olivier Asselin | Artists: Charles Gagnon

[Fall 2007] This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page. Montréal, Dazibao, collection « Études », 2006, 134 p.

Interview with Vik Muniz – Jean-François Bélisle

Ciel variable 77 – CULTURAL TOURISM | Interviews
Authors: Jean-François Bélisle | Artists: Vik Muniz

[Fall 2007] Vik Muniz is a Brazilian artist whose major retrospective exhibition Reflex will be on view at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal from October 4th 2007 to January 6th 2008. Now living and working in New York City, Muniz produces extremely rich and intricate photo works that are based on models made with […]

Ciel variable 78 – COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY

  [Spring 2008] Why does one collect photographic images? What motivates an individual to select only a few printed images from among thousands and assemble them into a collection that says as much about that individual as about his or her environment? EDITORIAL PORTFOLIOS FOCUS EXHIBITIONS READINGS VOICES   Download this issue (Free of Charge)

A Few Case Studies

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Editorial
Authors: Jacques Doyon

[Spring 2008] by Jacques Doyon Photography is becoming an increasingly important component of private collections. Recognition of the wealth and diversity of the photographic tradition, as well as a significant rise in the value of photographs on the art market, have accompanied this evolution. That is why we have chosen, for this issue, to highlight collections […]

Ydessa Hendeles, Collector and curator – John Bentley Mays, Archiving Contemporary Anxieties

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Portfolios
Authors: John Bentley Mays

[Spring 2008] The singularity of collections exists at the meeting point of the artists’ sensitivities and the collector’s philosophy. In the case of Ydessa Hendeles’s collection, this marriage of viewpoints results in a rich exploration of the pathologies, contradictions, and anxieties of contemporary Western societies. by John Bentley Mays Archiving Contemporary Anxieties Toronto collector Ydessa […]

W. M. Hunt, Collection Dancing Bear, Vernacular images – Maria-Antonella Pelizzari, Hide and seek in a photograph collection

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Portfolios
Authors: Maria Antonella Pelizzari

[Spring 2008] For thirty years, W. H. Hunt has been building a photography collection that brings together 1,200 works marked by the absence of sight in the photographed subjects. Composed of classical and contemporary works by renowned artists, as well as documentary images and snapshots by amateur photographers, this collection spans the entire history of […]

Lazare, Portraits et paysages, la collection Lazare – René Viau, Singular Introspections

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Portfolios
Authors: René Viau | Artists: Angela Grauerholz, Carlos & Jason Sanchez, Chuck Close, Edward Burtynsky, Julia Margaret Cameron, Michal Rovner, Nan Goldin, Pablo Picasso, Paul Strand, Raymonde April, Sally Mann, Sarah Moon

[Spring 2008] Following a first purchase, a work by Julia Margaret Cameron (United Kingdom, nineteenth century), the Lazare family has moulded the photographic content of it’s collection over the past twenty-five years to form what is a mainly contemporary ensemble of emotionally rich portraits and nostalgic landscapes. Whether it is a poetic photograph of the […]

Montreal Collects, Contemporary Photography: The LaRochelle and Taillefer collections – James Campbell

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Essays
Authors: James D. Campbell | Artists: Carlos & Jason Sanchez, Edward Burtynsky, Geoffrey James, Janita Eyre, Loretta Lux, Louis Joncas, Marion Landry, Matthieu Brouillard, Mitch Epstein, Nan Goldin, Pablo Ferrer, Pablo Zutela Zahr, Pascal Grandmaison, Richard Misrach, Roberto Pellegrinuzzi, Rodney Graham, Sarah Morris, Scott McFarland, Stephanie Schneider, William Christenberry

[Spring 2008] by James Campbell Interest in contemporary photography has reached a fever pitch. In 2006, at Sotheby’s in New York, a huge colour print by Andreas Gursky (dating from 1999) went on the block and sold for $2,256,000. Six months earlier, Richard Prince’s seminal work Untitled (Cowboy), a 1989 Ektacolor print of the Marlboro man, […]

Twenty Years of Ciel variable – Part Two – Jacques Doyon

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Essays
Authors: Jacques Doyon

[Spring 2008] To complement the first part of our look back at the first twenty years of the magazine, published in our last issue, we want here to emphasize two relatively obscure aspects of our history. The first one is the contribution of photographers to the very first version of the magazine, when its mandate […]

Le Mois de la photo à Montréal – Sylvain Campeau

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Sylvain Campeau

[Spring 2008] This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page. Explorations narratives, Montréal 6 septembre – 21 octobre 2007

Harun Farocki, One Image Doesn’t Take the Place of the Previous One – Cheryl Simon

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Cheryl Simon | Artists: Harun Farocki

[Spring 2008] Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal October 19 – December 1, 2007 Harun Farocki: One Image Doesn’t Take the Place of the Previous One, at Concordia University’s Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery last fall, brought the German artist to Montreal for the first time. Although he has made over ninety film […]

Bamako 2007, 7es Rencontres Africaines de la photographie – Erika Nimis

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Erika Nimis | Artists: Emmanuel Bakari Daou, Fouad Maazouz, Nabil Boutros, Serge Emmanuel Jongué

[Spring 2008] This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page. Bamako 2007 7es Rencontres Africaines de la photographie, Bamako 22 novembre – 10 décembre 2007

Roy Arden, Vancouver Art Gallery – John K. Grande

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: John K. Grande | Artists: Roy Arden

[Spring 2008] Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver October 20, 2007 – January 20, 2008 A landmark showing of the work of Vancouver School photographer Roy Arden should not go unnoticed! In his long career investigating the interrupted zones of society, Arden has chronicled not only a landscape in transition but a social and visual field. Against […]

Naoya Hatakeyama, Échelles – Manon Gosselin

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Manon Gosselin | Artists: Naoya Hatakeyama

[Fall 2008] This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page. Centre canadien d’architecture, Montréal 27 septembre 2007 – 3 février 2008

Outlooks, Accumulated Outlook and Outlook Express(ed) – Jessica Wyman

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Jessica Wyman | Artists: Gellman & Leslie Peters, Susan Collins

[Fall 2008] Oakville Galleries, Oakville June 29 – August 26, 2007 In a world in which “Outlook” is perhaps recognized more immediately as the name of a software program than as a word meaning “approach to life”, it seems fitting that this pair of exhibitions takes as its starting point the premise of using technology […]

Jeanne Dunning, VOX, image contemporaine – Patrice Duhamel

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Patrice Duhamel | Artists: Jeanne Dunning

[Fall 2008] This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page. VOX, image contemporaine, Montréal 3 novembre – 15 décembre 2007

Greg Girard, New Works – Andrea Carson

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Andrea Carson | Artists: Greg Girard

[Fall 2008] Monte Clark Gallery, Toronto September 20 – November 18, 2007 Like those of many of his Vancouver contemporaries, Greg Girard’s photographs – melancholy, colour-drenched images of Shanghai – are very large, which has the effect of enticing the viewer into a direct relationship with the city’s grand architecture and intimate interiors. The images in the […]

Jocelyn Philibert, Surréel – Jean-Pierre Vidal

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: Jean-Pierre Vidal | Artists: Jocelyn Philibert

[Fall 2008] This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page. Centre Sagamie, Alma 23 août – 21 septembre

Susan Bozic, The Dating Portfolio – James D. Campbell

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Exhibition reviews
Authors: James D. Campbell | Artists: Susan Bozic

[Spring 2008] Galerie Art Mur, Montreal August 18 – September 22, 2007 Susan Bozic’s latest series, The Dating Portfolio, elicits easy, involuntary smiles but poses a serious question or two that leave the viewer in an interrogatory frame of mind. Bozic appears in each of these medium-to-large-scale photographs in the company of a plastic (clothed) […]

Martha Langford, Scissors, Paper, Stone: Expressions of Memory in Contemporary Photographic Art – Niki Lambros

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Book Reviews
Authors: Martha Langford, Niki Lambros

[Fall 2008] by Niki Lambros The experience of reading the latest book by Martha Langford is strangely medieval; it’s a Cappelanasian compendium, an Ars Memoriae Contemporaria Photographia. Beckett is found on a single page with philosopher Avishai Margalit and St. Augustine; Benjamin, Penelope, and Proust in the same sentence. Drawing from literature, art history and […]

From One Image to the Next: A Conversation with Harun Farocki – André Habib, Pavel Pavlov

Ciel variable 78 - COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY | Interviews
Authors: André Habib, Pavel Pavlov | Artists: Harun Farocki

[Spring 2008] Montreal – October 20, 2007 The video installation Deep Play, discussed here, will be presented at the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art in Montreal from February 21 to May 25, 2008.The video installation Deep Play, discussed here, will be presented at the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art in Montreal from February 21 to […]

Ciel variable 79 – COLOURS OF THE CITY

Ciel variable 79 - COLOURS OF THE CITY

[Summer 2008] Photographing the street, over time, to record the evolution of the city and how it is used is a strategy that remains current. In these pages, it reveals the survival of small businesses in the era of globalization of markets, it allows us to follow the radical transformation of a city centre, and […]