Summer Program 2023 at PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art

Public opening
Thursday, August 3, 2023 at 5:30 PM

Exhibitions
Inhabiting the Imaginary
Moridja Kitenge Banza
August 4—September 3, 2023
451 Saint-Jean Street

Forgotten Traces
Amélie Brisson-Darveau and Pavitra Wickramasinghe
Presented as part of the PHI Montréal residency
August 4—September 3, 2023
465 Saint-Jean Street

Events
REMEMBER, PERFORM, FORGET: Binding Space Through Utopia
Kerstin Honeit, The Society of Affective Archives, and Rodolfo Andaur
August 16—27, 2023
465 Saint-Jean Street

Inhabiting the Imaginary: A Guided Tour with Moridja Kitenge Banza
Hosted by Cheryl Sim
August 17, 2023 at 5:30 PM
451 Saint-Jean Street

Free admission

For the summer months, the PHI Foundation has organized a rich program consisting of two exhibitions, one by Canadian Congolese artist Moridja Kitenge Banza and another as a result of the PHI Montréal residency project. Included during the month of August, will be a series of events and gatherings in collaboration with various artists, all offered free to the public.

Inhabiting the Imaginary
Moridja Kitenge Banza
Curated by Cheryl Sim

The PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Moridja Kitenge Banza: Inhabiting the Imaginary. For this exhibition, Kitenge Banza occupies the PHI Foundation’s 451 Saint-Jean Street building. On the first and second floors, the artist presents two new series of paintings that deepen his exploration of the Chiromancie project (2008—), which is rooted in the unequal power dynamics of cartography and the divinatory art of palmistry. These formally stunning pieces offer deep reflection on current geopolitical situations, and the invasive forces that displace people and forever transform territories. On the third floor is a new installation called Cycle (2023) that takes the form of the office reception area of a fictional corporation that offers organizations a way to remove and recycle racism. The creation of this work was a way for Kitenge Banza to address and heal from his own direct experience of racial discrimination. Linking the whole exhibition together is a site-specific audio intervention that puts a new spin on the artist’s award-winning 2009 work Hymne à nous. Taken together, these works exemplify “politicized sensuousness,” as they seduce through the eye and the ear, while feeding the critical mind.

This exhibition was made possible with the support of the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the SDC Vieux-Montréal. We would like to thank the lenders and the Galerie Hugues Charbonneau for their generous collaboration.

Forgotten Traces
Amélie Brisson-Darveau and Pavitra Wickramasinghe
Curated by Daniel Fiset

Forgotten Traces is an exhibition conceived by artists Amélie Brisson-Darveau and Pavitra Wickramasinghe in collaboration with secondary 3 level students from Montréal’s Lucien-Pagé high school. It is the result of Wickramasinghe and Brisson-Darveau’s 2022-2023 PHI Montréal public engagement residency. Across a series of workshops, the participants looked at the waves of gentrification from the last century that have affected some of the neighbourhoods around their school, and the traces left by this phenomenon on the architectures that surround them. These traces are redeployed in an installation that evokes the spectral presence of buildings whose future is uncertain.

REMEMBER, PERFORM, FORGET: Binding Space Through Utopia
Kerstin Honeit, The Society of Affective Archives, and Rodolfo Andaur
Curated by Victoria Carrasco

REMEMBER, PERFORM, FORGET: Binding Space Through Utopia is a series of gatherings with Kerstin Honeit, The Society for Affective Archives, and Rodolfo Andaur. Through screenings, artist talks, a publication launch and walking tours, the program invites us to envision the notion of place and the role of public art through the lens of an idealized political climate.

PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art
Established in 2007 by Phoebe Greenberg, the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing impactful contemporary art experiences to the public. Our programming is international in scope, responsive to the local context, and free of charge to reinforce a commitment to accessibility and inclusion. The Foundation is driven by a desire to break down entrenched perceptions of what contemporary art is and who it is for, with the fundamental belief that art is for us all. The Foundation endeavours to make a home for art, artists and the public we serve, devoted to nurturing convivial exchanges that celebrate art as part of our everyday lives.

PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art
451 & 465 Saint-Jean Street
Montréal, Quebec, H2Y 2R5
Canada

Opening hours:
Wednesday to Friday: 12 PM to 7 PM
Saturday and Sunday: 11 AM to 6 PM
Free Admission

Accessibility: Partially Accessible

Information
514-849-3742
info.foundation@phi.ca
foundation.phi.ca

Media inquiries:
Myriam Achard
machard@phi.ca
514-844-7474 #5104

Social media:
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Image credits:
Clockwise: Moridja Kitenge Banza, Chiromancie #14 n° 1, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Hugues Charbonneau; Amélie Brisson-Darveau and Pavitra Wickramasinghe, Forgotten Traces (production detail), 2023. Photo: Kevin Delamourd; Kerstin Honeit, [ˈzi:lo]5, 2019. Video still.