Musée d’art contemporain or It is in fact possible to change my mind

The Montreal Museums guide describes the Musée d’art contemporain as the biggest museum of contemporary art of Canada, but I’ve never found it to be particularly exciting. It always seems like the same thing. There’s nothing wrong with focusing on Quebec, and obviously we’ve got a great artistic heritage and comtemporary output to be proud of, but it’s not the Musée d’art contemporain Québécois. I’ve discovered great artists and artworks at the MAC, but it hasn’t felt like a strong contender on the international museum scene. This visit changed my mind.

The first thing I saw as I walked through the lobby was Marina Abramovic’s Self-Portrait with Skeleton. Impressive. Upstairs there were five shows, three of which are now closed. The MAC is free Wednesday evenings but I went on Monday to catch the last day of the stunning Robert Polidori show. According to the curator, Polidori is “nourished by an unquenchable creativity.” Profoundly cheesy. The opening didactic panel also included a sentence with “conflictual” and I’m fairly sure a real word would have a worked just as well. The text panel and the jumbled confusing labels didn’t work in the MAC’s favour but Polidori’s photographs can’t be overshadowed. From the detail shots of restoration work at Versailles, to the aftermath at Chernobyl, the photos were stunning. What struck me most was how, in almost every shot of natural disaster and destruction, there was a glimpse of greenery growing and surviving. He’s definitely an artist on my radar.

Also closed is Spring Hurlbut’s beautifully creepy room of metal crib frames arranged in a grid under dim lighting, and Christine Davis’ complex and layered installations. Betty Goodwin’s show is up until October so you can still discover how she “invokes the labyrinth of the subconscious.” I find her art much more interesting as an oeuvre than as individual works, so I think a retrospective is a great showcase of her approach. I was particularly drawn to her later sculptural pieces. Around the corner is “La Collection: quelques installations,” which doesn’t really make sense as a curatorial project but the works on their own are intriguing.

One last note, the Musée has a lovely little sculpture garden off the back gallery. I love it when I see a work for the first time but I can still recognize it. One of only three sculptures in the garden is by Henry Moore, a favourite of mine, and I’ve never seen a sculpture of his in that style. The real standout was the garden itself, a colourful, wild English garden that was the perfect place to sit and re-energize before finishing the galleries. This is the MAC like I’ve never seen it.

2 down, 30 to go. Next up Ecomusée du fier monde.