Déblocages [Unblocking]

Host members

Laurence Beaudoin Morin

Laurence Beaudoin Morin is a performance artist from Montréal. In her work, she facilitates reflection on the practice of gathering and seeks to create circumstances conducive to skill-sharing through the political vitality of process. She is the co-founder of the auto-workshops performance projects in vacant lots, and is also part of the Performance Art Studies team, where she co-teaches online courses and disseminates her research on performance art on the project’s digital platforms. Whether through her cultural mediation practice or her research, her participation is oriented on knowledge sharing and creating spaces for meeting and discussion. Laurence completed an MFA in Visual and Media Arts from the Université du Québec à Montréal (2019) and a BFA from Concordia University (2015). She has presented her performances and organized gatherings in Montréal, Sudbury, Toronto, Detroit, Brussels, and Berlin since 2012. Artist’s website

Katherine-Josée Gervais

Katherine-Josée Gervais’s practice examines the poetry of the void as a re-edification of the banality of the everyday, confronting and underlining the incoherent meaning of our existence. For many years, she worked on construction sites before going to university, and is currently pursuing her PhD in Art Theory and Practice at UQAM. Her work has been included in several group exhibitions and performances both in Québec and France (Martel en tête, Paris; HoMa2, Maison de la culture de Maisonneuve; Verticale, Laval, etc.). She has also implemented and co-organized several self-directed events such as RIPA, Legs, GPS (global positioning system), and is co-director of the micro-press Boucane. Artist’s website

Julie Lequin

Julie Lequin’s semi-autobiographical work explores themes relating to home and constructions of the self in relation to one’s home, neighbourhood, work, love/family relationships, and the suburbs through installations, drawings, publications, and videos. Lequin has presented projects at the Maison des Arts (Laval); La Centrale, Centre Clark, Optica (Montréal); YYZ Artist’s Outlet (Toronto); LACMA (Los Angeles); Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (Salt Lake City); Art in General, and White Columns (New York). She was an artist in residence at Yaddo, Art Omi, and Macdowell Colony (USA); Hiap (Helsinki); Québec Studio (Mexico City); Récollets (Paris); and Nordiska Akvarellmuseet (Sweden). Her work has been featured in La Presse+, Canadian Art, C Magazine, Le Devoir, Art 21, and the CBC. Artist’s website

Alexandre Piral

Alexandre Piral is a writer and cultural worker based in Montréal. In 2021, after a six-month stint as an attendant in a CHSLD given a lack of opportunities in artist-run centres and museums, he is now trying to reconcile care work in writing, contemporary art cultural mediation, and community involvement. Artist’s website