ATSA – 10 years of State of Emergency

Join us on Fri April 11th at Gallery Gachet (5.30-7.30pm) and at grunt gallery (7.30-9.30pm) for the opening receptions of 10 years of State of Emergency (État d’Urgence). These exhibitions run:
Apr 11th – May 17th, 2014 @ grunt gallery
Apr 11th – May 25th, 2014 @  Gallery Gachet

(Vancouver, BC) – grunt gallery and Gallery Gachet are proud to co-present 10 years of State of Emergency (État d’Urgence), a multidisciplinary visual exhibition based on a retrospective of works from 1998-2013 during État d’Urgence (State of Emergency) and Fin Novembre (End of November
The annual event État d’Urgence (State of Emergency) began in 1998 in downtown Montreal and was created by ATSA, a not-for-profit organization founded by artists Pierre Allard and Annie Roy. It was originally conceived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event itself is a 24-hour, 5-day refugee camp in support of people living homeless and under conditions of poverty. The event was created as a public intervention in the city and includes the provision of food, clothing and shelter as well as the production of hundreds of art works from multidisciplinary backgrounds. État d’Urgence was so successful that it has returned on an annual basis and now, 16 years later, goes by the name Fin Novembre.

The exhibition has been presented in numerous venues in Montreal, as well as cities across the province of Quebec. It is now touring Canada with exhibition dates planned in Fredricton, Calgary and Winnipeg, arriving in Vancouver to be co-exhibited at both grunt gallery and Gallery Gachet.

At grunt gallery, ATSA presents a selection of 30 ATSA art works and archives produced throughout the years of the event from 1997 to 2013, including the montage U pour Urgence presented at the Canadian Architecture Centre, Deposit, Last resort, Under surveillance, The Brasero and a collection of video capsules by Santiago Bertolino, Steve Patry, Henrique Vera Villanueva and Luc Sénécal. This selection shows the evolution of the event and all the political and social difficulties and challenges the artists experienced.

At Gallery Gachet, the 10 years of State of Emergency exhibition features artwork by over 20 artists—local, national and international—who made original contributions to État d’Urgence during the event’s run between 1998 and 2010. Included in these works are collaborative illustrations, sound track and photo projects; paintings on unconventional media; drawings, a survival handbook; miniature cardboard architecture and more.

For more information, please visit http://www.atsa.qc.ca/en/