Terms of Use

March 9—July 9, 2023
PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montréal

Dara Birnbaum, Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Mara Eagle, Brendan Fernandes, Francisco González-Rosas, Ilana Yacine Harris-Babou, Helena Martin Franco, Nation to Nation, Skawennati, Shanie Tomassini, Wu Tsang, VahMirè (Ludmila Steckelberg), Quentin VerCetty, Nico Williams

The PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art is pleased to present the group exhibition Terms of Use.

Terms of Use brings together works that explore the impact of technologies on the definition, construction, and (re)framing of individual and collective selves, as we grapple with living simultaneously online and AFK (away from keyboard). At once celebratory and critical, the exhibition deals with the complex feelings generated by our daily interactions with technologies: between the opportunities to connect and to imagine other spaces, and the constant pressure to perform within and for these spaces.

Inspired by a range of texts, from Ursula Franklin’s The Real World of Technology (1989) to the more recent Glitch Feminism by Legacy Russell (2020), Terms of Use aims to challenge our entrenched notions of what technologies are, how we make use of them, and to what extent they are using us. The exhibition is anchored in an intergenerational dialogue between artists and authors, and considers the power dynamics involved in our complicated relationships with technology, highlighting both the pleasures and difficulties of having to mediate oneself in these hybridized and semi-virtual worlds. These endless mediations further evoke themes, such as the metaverse as a radical space for self-actualization and determination, as well as consumption and extractivism under “digital capitalism.”

Many of the works in Terms of Use are brand new, and the exhibition also includes the Canadian debut of Wu Tsang’s two-channel video installation The Looks (2015).

Curators: Daniel Fiset and Cheryl Sim

PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art
Established in 2007 by Phoebe Greenberg, the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, formerly known as DHC/ART, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the presentation of contemporary art. Housed in two heritage buildings located in the heart of Old Montréal, the Foundation offers programming that has met with critical acclaim both at home and around the world. Each year, the PHI Foundation presents two to three major exhibitions, a series of public events, special collaborative projects and a forward-thinking education and public engagement program. International in scope yet responsive to the Montréal context, the Foundation’s programming is offered free of charge to reinforce its commitment to accessibility, while fostering discussion on how contemporary art is invested with the topics and ideas that reflect and touch our everyday lives.

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PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art
451 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

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Myriam Achard
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514-844-7474 #5104

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Image credit: Wu Tsang, The Looks, 2015. Two-channel colour HD video projection, stereo sound. 10 min. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi