On May 29, 2019, I had the pleasure of participating as an assistant in organizing the conference Making History: The Exhibition and Its Reconstitution, in collaboration with Mélanie Boucher and Marie-Hélène Leblanc. This event was held as part of the annual conference of the Association francophone pour le savoir (ACFAS) at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, and was part of a broader reflection on the reconstitution of exhibitions and their impact on knowledge production and artistic creation.
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Exhibition Reconstitution as a Tool for Research and Transmission
This conference explored how reconstructing exhibitions can serve as a practice to revisit their history and question their artistic, political, and social significance. The artwork Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorexic (1987) by Jana Sterbak, exhibited in 1991 at the National Gallery of Canada, served as a starting point for reflection on recontextualization, the evolution of debates around freedom of expression, and the role of the state in promoting contemporary art.
An Interdisciplinary Event Bridging Art History, Museology, and Creation
The event brought together art historians, museologists, and artists whose work focuses on reconstructed exhibitions and the forms of knowledge they produce. Through various presentations, we were able to analyze how certain exhibitions leave a lasting mark on collective imagination and how their reconstitution can enrich our understanding of art history and curatorial practices.
My Role in Organizing the Conference
Through this conference, we highlighted the importance of transmitting and reinterpreting past exhibitions. Their reconstitution goes beyond simple reproduction—it offers a new reading of art history and museography. This event opened up stimulating discussions on how exhibitions shape our collective memory and our relationship to artistic heritage.
A Conference Embedded in a Dynamic of Research and Exhibition
This conference was directly linked to the exhibition La Robe de chair au Musée national: expositions, reconstitution, presented at Galerie UQO from May 15 to June 22, 2019. In parallel with the academic event, the exhibition offered a reflection on reconstructed exhibitions and their ability to reactivate discourses and artistic practices of the past.