*Opening:: Saturday May 17 (3PM)*

Jennifer Lefort and Dominique Pétrin are sharing the exhibition space to produce a collaborative exploratory work. Taking into account their respective affinities for motif and colour, they decided to work together on a site-specific project, an “open” process in which they would establish a dialogue.

Retour à Paradise Lost

*Opening:: Saturday May 17 (3PM)*
At one time or another, we have all dreamt of gaining access to a little piece of Paradise. In doing so, we are not always aware of referring to a Christian conception of the world, which is in itself proof that the place is now as much a part of our collective imagination as is, for instance, the Grecian Arcadia. However, when thinking seriously about it, we have difficulty envisioning the idyllic location in an entirely positive light, so closely is it associated with catastrophe and the fall. This is but one manifestation of our difficulty in conceiving an embodied utopia. Today, it would be hard not to imagine this Paradise threatened by industrial progress, whether in the form of pollution or of nuclear contamination. But the true impediment to positively imagining this locus of our origins is surely tied to our ambiguous relationship with nature. While we are inclined to envision this nature garden as benign, fecund, and wholesome, we are also aware that it is a wild environment, untamed, harbouring fierce creatures that are ready to pounce and annihilated us.

Research Residency art3/OPTICA - Valence (France)

We are pleased to announce that the 2014 winner of the research residency art3/OPTICA is Edith Brunette. Desiring to confront the artists to a different professional, social, and political context, the Quebec-Valence (France) exchange residency program promotes practices and projects that will be enhanced by a stay in the host country.

Mathieu Latulippe Visions [ Documents de recherche], Laurent Pernel, Théâtre de Verdure

*Book Launch :: Thursday May 22 (7PM)*
OPTICA recently received its new publication concerning the projects carried out by the laureates 2011 and 2012 of the residency research program art3 / OPTICA.