The term “prestige” evokes the magic of the prestidigitator, but it also refers as naturally to deception, influence and power. By way of tricks, the magician creates a spectacle where sensory perception is distorted, as a part of reality is kept from view. In this way, reality becomes fragmented, permitting an illusion to exert its power.

A similar fragmentation of reality takes place through most aspects of our lives via our digitized media, with all its ubiquity and immediacy. From intensively curated social media platforms to ubiquitous retouched ad images to the replacement of “reality-based politics” with spin, seeking to discern “truth” from the range of what we perceive—copies of copies, reflections of reflections—is a dizzying prospect.

One may well question where knowledge is located in this context. Indeed, if seeing essential to knowing, how can one ensure the truth of one’s convictions? In a world of artificiality, even to concern oneself with such epistemological problems can seem pointless or naïve. Is it even necessary to care? Certainly many have withdrawn themselves, focusing on mastering the rules of this game or at least surviving within its dominion.

This year, our members’ show is a response to magic and illusion, desire and power. The artists exhibiting here seek to interrogate, dismantle and reassemble our assumptions about reality and illusion: What does it mean to be human today? Are our individual trajectories dictated by an inescapable ideology? Does our encirclement by ubiquitous illusions affect our value systems? And does this encirclement in turn underline the need to believe in something real?

Exhibitions  

Participating Artists: Stéphanie Beaulieu (Montreal) Ronald Bélanger (Montreal) Soufia Bensaid (Montreal) Kaeten Bonli (Montreal) Elham Paiandeh Deldar (Montreal) Raphaële Frigon (Montreal) Edwin Janzen (Montreal) Julie Laurin (Montreal) Denis Lessard (Montreal) Jenny Lin (Montreal) Kristi Ropeleski (Montreal) Morgan Sea (Montreal) Jasia Stuart (Montreal) Jacqueline van de Geer (Montreal)
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