OPTICA déménage!
As soon as next spring, 2014, OPTICA will join five other centres—Centre d’art et de diffusion Clark; l’Atelier circulaire; Diagonale, Centre des arts et des fibres du Québec; Dazibao, Centre d’animation et d’exposition photo; and Occurrence, Espace d’art et d’essai contemporain—to form a new hub of dissemination for the arts in Montreal’s Mille-End district. OPTICA is leaving the 5th floor of the Belgo building in the Quartier des Spectacles for the ground floor at 5445 De Gaspé, a new, more versatile space that will enable the centre to fulfil its mandate while allowing it to better distribute the functions of research, mediation, and exhibition in its programming. The space, the AGORA, which provides greater capacity for groups and the public at large, is dedicated to showcasing and optimizing the OPTICA archives and the interpretation of current shows and any public presentations related to current artistic production.
The project is supported by an agreement in principle of $1.8 M between the Ministère de la Culture et des communications du Québec and the Ville de Montréal.
Note that in view of the move, OPTICA’s programming will end temporarily in mid October, 2013, but is set to start up again with a brand new program in May 2014. More information will be available in the coming months.
OPTICA new location is the focus of few published articles by Frédérique Doyon, Lancement du chantier des ateliers culturelles du Mile-End (June 18 2013), Nicolas Mavrikakis, Pleins feux sur la pépinières du Pôle de Gaspé (January 11 2014) and Jérôme Delagado L'art actuel diffusé à la puissance 6 (March 22 2014). It is also the subject of the radio report by Stephane Leclerc Culture : Pi2 de Gaspé : prochain lieu incontournable pour l'art actuel for the Marie-France Bazzo' morning show C'est pas trop tôt! (Radio-Canada, April 1st 2014).
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