Montreal and Quebec City museums have closed, along with bars, restaurants and casinos, due to a spike in COVID-19. Quebec Premier Francois Legault ordered a shutdown from Oct. 1 to Oct. 28. It's a setback for Montreal's McCord Museum, which just launched a major Christian Dior exhibition. Tickets were quickly snapped up, but the gallery told CBC News that attendance since its reopening at the end of June had dropped to 15 to 20 per cent of its usual level.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts needs improved governance and accountability, says an independent report commissioned by Quebec’s minister of culture and communications in the wake of director Nathalie Bondil's dismissal in July. A heavily redacted version of the report was deposited last month in Quebec's National Assembly. The Montreal Gazette says the report's author, Université du Québec à Montréal professor Daniel Beaupré, cites “inconsistencies, misunderstandings and inaccuracies” in the museum’s law and regulations and said a clear division of roles and responsibilities between the board of trustees and senior management is essential for healthy governance. Michel de la Chenelière, then the president of the museum’s board of trustees, has said Bondil was terminated because she fostered a toxic workplace climate. But Bondil says her opposition to his choice for a new curator led to her departure. She has filed a $2-million lawsuit against the museum.
The Art Gallery of Ontario will launch an exhibition about Studio 54 in December. Studio 54: Night Magic, which runs Dec. 26 to April 5, explores the art, design and fashion of the legendary Manhattan night spot. The club, which opened in 1977, was frequented by Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, Cher, Michael Jackson, Truman Capote and other stars. The show is curated by Matthew Yokobosky, of the Brooklyn Museum.
Toronto's CONTACT Photography Festival says many exhibitions postponed in May are now open to the public. The shows include Diane Arbus at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and three Vancouver artists: Carol Sawyer at the Koffler Gallery; Scotiabank Photography Award winner Stephen Waddell at the Ryerson Image Centre; and Elizabeth Zvonar at the Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre. For information, go here.
The National Gallery of Canada presents its first exhibition by Moyra Davey, one of Canada’s most innovative conceptual artists. The Faithful, by the internationally renowned New York-based photographer, filmmaker and writer, runs from Oct. 1 to Jan. 3. It looks at four decades of artistic production, including work related to commuters in the New York subway, the city’s disappearing newsstands and the daily accoutrements of urban and domestic life. Curator Andrea Kunard discusses Davey's work in an article published in NGC Magazine.
Source: CBC News, Montreal Gazette, Art Gallery of Ontario, Contact Photography Festival, National Gallery of Canada
