10 Ans d’Urgence by L’Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable at Gallery Connexion

Gallery Connexion is excited to present a project by Montréal-based collective ATSA (L’Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable) in the Main Gallery.  Their exhibition “10 Ans d’Urgence” brings together works by more than twenty artists who made original contributions to the collective’s État d’Urgence event between 1998 and 2010.  ATSA describes État d’Urgence as a “manifestival” – a category that plays off of the French word for a political demonstration ‘manifestation’ and evocations of a public festival.  Organized annually in Montreal, the event brought together dynamic works in video, photography, illustration, archival film, sound, and installation based practices, which considered the issue of homelessness and sought to demand an encounter with that often-feared individual: ‘the outsider.’

Gallery Connexion is located at 440 York Street, on the lower level of the Chestnut building, through the green door. Please join us for an artist talk, followed by the opening of the exhibition on July 25, 2013 at 6 PM.  Guests are encouraged to bring something edible to share, since the event is a potluck.

“10 Ans d’Urgence” hopes to leave no-one indifferent, and to make the case that art can be a means of survival.  The exhibition will run until September 3, 2013.

ATSA (L’Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable) is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 by artists Pierre Allard and Annie Roy.  The pair create transdisciplinary works and events, and as a creative, pacifist, and responsible movement, ATSA is committed to producing and promoting events which help advance the causes of sustainable development and the fundamental rights of humankind and of nature. The recipient of the 2011 Giverny Capital price, the 2010 Pratt & Whitney Canada Nature de l’Art Prize, the Citoyen de la Culture 2008 award, and of the Artistes pour la Paix 2008 award, ATSA uses intergenerational and educational strategies to question urban landscapes and promote exchange and reflection in the public realm.

Connexion is an artist-run centre in Fredericton, New Brunswick.  Founded in 1984, Gallery Connexion continues to present politically and socially engaged artworks through a range of programming initiatives including exhibitions, performances, workshops, public discussions and artist residencies.  As a not-for-profit organization, Gallery Connexion promotes contemporary Canadian and international artists, from diverse backgrounds, with special emphasis on experimental visual art practices.  Gallery Connexion co-presented Magnus Isacsson’s documentary “Art in Action” with Cinema Politica Fredericton in January 2012, a film which takes ATSA as its subject.

For further information the artwork or exhibition, please contact Gallery Connexion’s Executive Director, John Edward Cushnie, at connex@nbnet.nb.ca, or the founding members of ATSA Pierre Allard & Annie Roy at info@atsa.qc.ca.