“Art Rocks in Montréal”
Three Major Exhibitions This Fall

Montréal, September 22, 2008. Montréal will definitely catch a wave of rock music this fall, with the exhibition Warhol Live: Music and Dance in Andy Warhol’s Work at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the anthology Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 at the Musée d’art contemporain, and Replay, devoted to artist Christian Marclay, at DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art. Tourisme Montréal is proud to partner this joint tourist promotion targeting Canadian and U.S. Northeast audiences.

For the first time in the historiography of Andy Warhol (1928-1987), the exhibition-event Warhol Live, presented from September 25, 2008 to January 18, 2009, will explore the all-pervading and fundamental role of music and dance in the artist’s work and life. Music is an essential narrative element throughout the exhibition and will guide visitors as they rediscover Warhol’s art, illustrated by 640 works and objects, installations, films, videos, album covers and archival documents. The exhibition is produced by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in partnership with the Andy Warhol Museum, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. (www.mbam.qc.ca)

Sympathy for the Devilexamines the history of the relationship between avant-garde art and rock music over the past forty years, and is the most comprehensive presentation ever of work that has emerged from the intersection of these two cultures. The exhibition, scheduled to run from October 10, 2008 to January 11, 2009, comprises over 100 works (installations, sculptures, paintings, drawings, videos, photographs) produced by sixty artists and collectives, subdivided into six themes corresponding to the music scenes in New York, the U.K., continental Europe, the West Coast (particularly Los Angeles), the U.S. Midwest and the rest of the world. It was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. (www.macm.org)

DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art is pleased to present the North American premiere of Christian Marclay’s REPLAY from November 30, 2008 to March 29, 2009. This exhibition of video works by the internationally acclaimed artist features spectacular large-scale projections accompanied by dramatic sound tracks. “Music like you’ve never seen before and art like you’ve never heard before.” Interview magazine (on Christian Marclay). (www.dhc-art.org)

Tourisme Montréal, promotional partner for the event, will be publicizing the three shows under the banner Art Rocks in Montréal. A press conference will be held in New York in late September. In addition, Tourisme Montréal will offer three rock and roll itineraries on its website for travellers interested in visiting Montréal this fall. “Combining art with rock music certainly bolsters the image of bold creativity that Montréal enjoys on the international cultural scene,” says Charles Lapointe, President and CEO of Tourisme Montréal. “While this isn’t the first time the city’s museums have demonstrated exceptional progressive vision, the partnership between these three cultural institutions is a first—a first that reflects the decidedly distinct character of a metropolis continually on the leading edge of art and culture.”

This is indeed the first time that three such organizations have joined together for a promotion of this type. Three different but complementary exhibitions linked by a common theme of art and rock and roll.

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Sources and information             

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts           
Catherine Guex, Press Officer
cguex@mbamtl.org 514.285.1600 #205

Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
Danielle Legentil, Public Relations Coordinator
danielle.legentil@macm.org 514.847.6232

DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art
Myriam Achard, Director, Communications & Marketing
myriam@dhc-art.org 514.779.8868