From 2019 to 2024, I had the honor of being an organizer and jury member for the Jean-Pierre Latour Award, a distinction that recognizes the best exhibition review written by a student from the Multidisciplinary School of Image (ÉMI) at the University of Quebec in Outaouais. This award aims to encourage the development of critical thinking on contemporary art and museology.
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A Prize to Promote Student Art Criticism
Created in 2006 in memory of Jean-Pierre Latour, art critic and lecturer at ÉMI, this prize has the mission to:
- Stimulate the critical thinking of students in visual arts and museology.
- Promote the writing and analysis of contemporary exhibitions.
- Offer academic and professional recognition to young authors.
This annual prize is organized in collaboration with the Union of Course Lecturers at UQO and is part of a commitment to the transmission of excellence in critical writing, focusing on the writing of texts related to art practices and museology. ÉMI offers a master’s in museology and arts practices, as well as undergraduate programs in visual arts, graphic design, and museology.
My Role as an Organizer and Jury Member
As an organizer and jury member, I participated in:
- The selection of candidates and the evaluation of submitted texts.
- The organization of deliberations and the award presentation.
- The promotion of winners and the dissemination of their work.
A Link with the Devenir l’œuvre Conference
In 2021, this project also led to the Devenir l’œuvre conference: Practices of Objectification of Bodies in Exhibitions and Museums. This conference explored how individuals reappropriate works of art and exhibition practices, highlighting issues of reappropriation, doubling, and personification. It extended the reflection on the modes of interaction between the viewer and the work, a fundamental theme in the critical analysis of exhibitions.
A Critical and Academic Legacy
Jean-Pierre Latour has marked the landscape of art criticism in Quebec. In addition to being active as a lecturer at ÉMI (now EdAC in 2023), from 1985 to 2005, Jean-Pierre Latour was, from 2000 to 2005, a member of the editorial board of the ESPACE sculpture journal, now known as ESPACE art actuel. He is the author of Jean-Pierre Latour, critique d’art : voir et comprendre, a posthumous work published in 2009 by the 3D Distribution Center, which publishes the journal. Jean-Pierre Latour also made his mark on art criticism, generations of students, and the history of ESPACE. This first collaboration between the ESPACE journal and UQO, to award the Jean-Pierre Latour Prize, serves to revisit the shared past of both institutions to better encourage the next generation.
Impact and Perspectives
Participating in this prize reinforced my commitment to art criticism and supporting young researchers in museology and visual arts. This experience emphasizes the importance of the dialogue between academic research and artistic creation in the evaluation and reception of contemporary art.