September 14 – October 20, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, September 14, 7 p.m.
Artists & Curators in Conversation:Saturday, September 15, 2 pm
MERCER UNION
A Centre for Contemporary Art
1286 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON, M6H 1N9
T: 416.536.1519
E: sarah@mercerunion.org
www.mercerunion.org
Hours: Tues–Sat 11–6 p.m.
Mercer Union is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition Hapax Legomena curated by Elodie Royer and Yoann Gourmel and featuring artworks by Isabelle Cornaro, Julien Crépieux, Aurélien Froment, Mark Geffriaud, Cyrille Maillot, Benoît Maire, Benoît-Marie Moriceau, Bruno Persat, Chloé Quenum and Raphaël Zarka.
Hapax Legomena gathers the work of ten French artists of the same generation together for the first time in Canada. The exhibition draws its starting point from the process and narrative proposed by the artist and theoretician Hollis Frampton in his most celebrated film Hapax Legomena 1: (nostalgia). In the film, Frampton proposes a re-reading of his own work within an analytical framework that mixes reminiscences, scripted narration and iconographic exercises. Similarly, this exhibition will be inscribed within the continuity of a theoretical and practical discussion initiated in 2006 amongst the curators and a constellation of artist peers. Their collaborations to date have taken the form of exhibitions, publications, conferences and performances. This exhibition will gather fragments of these past collaborations, traces and souvenirs of past exhibitions along with new productions. Hapax Legomena — designating a thing occurring only once — will trace the index of this continued collaboration, balancing between past history and future possibilities.
The exhibition Hapax Legomena is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Visiting Foreign Artists Program, the Consulat Général de France à Toronto, and the Institut Français. Mercer Union also acknowledges the support of its staff, volunteers, members, and donors, and the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council for support of our annual operations.