CriticisMe: Inside-Out (version française)

CriticisMe: Inside-Out (Version française) accumulates eclectic, if not ill-assorted pieces. First, a scale model blends the aesthetics of a “traditional art gallery” with that of a haunted house inspired by scary rides [WoMansion]. Then, in a consultation tent, the artist invites the public to discuss the genesis of their identities, as she personifies a character half-therapist and half-fortune teller of Bonaventure [PsHyenalyz]. Finally, in an art studio simulating a canteen, the artist presents multidisciplinary works, referring to an “in-between imagery” [Sweet Fuck All Factory]. The playful atmosphere of this installation is reminiscent of fun fairs and theme parks that are “cultural vortices” to open “dynamic territories where dualistic concepts can cohabit without being neutralized.”

In this exhibition, MPier superimposes elements from popular culture, including (animation) cinema, comics, role playing and video games. These elements are arranged with theoretical notions coming from scholarly learned culture (biology, philosophy, psychoanalysis, linguistics, etc.). The artist’s speech also focuses on cultural studies, gender studies, feminist studies and the sociology of art.

For example, the figure of the spotted hyena has taken an important place in the artist’s cosmogony. The identity of this animal is plural, even ambiguous. Despite its physical and behavioural proximity to canids, hyenas belong to the hyenids that are more closely related to felids. The expression “neither cat nor dog” underlines the indefinable aspect of hyenids, but also a will of MPier in order to thwart a form of binary categorization: “a permutating identity inspired by fragmenting postmodern identities, leaving room for a constant reinvention of the self with the idea of thwarting socially prescribed limits.” These considerations are not just about gender issues, they also apply to the multiple definitions and roles that are attributed to contemporary artists and their realm in our society.

Playfulness is also an important part of the MPier’s practice. While taking her work seriously, the artist invites humour through word games and borrowings from popular entertainment. In her practice, there is a desire to maintain a comparison between the system of contemporary art and that of play as art historian and curator Marie Fraser has suggested. In the art world, just like in a game, there are players (artists and public), a field (museums and galleries), rules (taught by the Academies and Art Schools), goals (awards and honours) and referees (critics and curators).

By addressing scattered subjects, these few lines would like to show the theoretical and practical versatility of MPier’s work, which may seem paradoxical, but assumed. As a result, the exercise of the accompanying exhibition text, which should enlighten or inform one about this contemporary artwork, can only incite the public to take advantage of the artist’s presence to further appreciate CriticisMe: Inside-Out (Version française).

-Essay by Eloi Desjardins and Mpier Théberge

MP Théberge is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary artist who works and lives in Montreal. She won numerous scholarships during her bachelor of visual arts and media studies at UQAM, and obtained SSHRC funding for her master’s degree (2010-2012). Her thesis entitled “A practice of self-representation revealing the mechanisms of the identity construction of the artist in the world of art” enabled her to develop the project ArtisMe®. She creates artistic and educational games about the progression of her career and the evolution of her subject-artist in the current art world. Among these “interactive entertainment activities,” she produces an Android application under the direction of Alexandre Castonguay; MPiigotchi: Walk of the influential critic. More recently, she received a Elizabeth Greenshields Fellowship (2014) and FQRSC funding to pursue doctoral studies at the same university (2015-).