Philippe Allard
Migration sédentaire
Conversations Montréal | Lyon — Factatory
Curators— Marthe Carrier and Chloé Grondeau
Philippe Allard is interested in the impact of human activities on the environment. Inspired by Arte Povera, he salvages and collects materials and objects from industrial production and diverts the original meaning by transposing them into a new context. By exposing mass-produced objects, such as crates of milk, satellite dishes, transport pallets, he examines the environmental consequences of a consumer society towards programmed obsolescence. Privileging on-site interventions, he has made several commissions for public and private works. With a Bachelor degree in Graphic Design from UQAM, Philippe Allard is a self-taught artist living and working in Montréal. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions, at Articule, Fonderie Darling and recently at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown. He has also participated in several group exhibitions, including the 5th Biennial of Marrakech and the 31st Symposium international d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul (2013). Along with Justin Duchesneau, he was the winner of the Place des Arts de Montréal competition (2009) and recipient of the AGAC Prix d’art public (2014). Since 2013, he has created several sculptural projects of integrating art into the architecture and environment, including two for the 375th anniversary of Ville de Montréal in 2017.
The practice of Philippe Allard is anchored in the structure of cities. Monumental and almost always performed in the public space, each intervention disrupts the place from which it takes shape. At the Factatory, in the wastelands adjoining the railways and near the temporary units offered in the residency, the artist proposes Migration sédentaire, a work that challenges our relationship to movement, borders and travel. Philippe Allard utilises the site by adding makeshift shelters: aerial caravans, perched on stilts, that one can explore and appropriate. Their elevation above ground is reminiscent of children's huts. The lack of seating also makes them mobile homes. Game, journey, displacement. Habitats that are temporarily occupied. Life spaces implanted in the heart of a space of research. Dialogues. Echo. At the same time, these buildings are erected on a wasteland. Throughout Europe, including France, we see rising tents and other rudimentary shelters. Humanitarian, climate and political refugee crises. Population displacement. In the current context of migratory movements, how to set the reception guidelines? How to manage the flux? Which positions to defend? Is sedentary lifestyle a luxury? Will we all become migrants?
CONVERSATIONS MONTRÉAL | LYON
THE ARTISTS – THE VENUES
Philippe Allard – La Factatory
Jean-Pierre Aubé –Tator
Thomas Bégin – Tator
Julie Favreau – La BF15
Isabelle Guimond – Néon
Noémi McComber – Néon
Tricia Middleton – Néon
Guillaume Adjutor Provost – Bikini
IN RESIDENCY
Philippe Allard – La Factatory – du 15 mars au 4 avril 2018
Thomas Bégin – La Factatory – du 8 mars au 31 mars 2018
Julie Favreau – Moly Sabata – du 28 février au 31 mars 2018
Tricia Middleton – Néon – du 22 mars au 4 avril 2018
LA FACTATORY
Modular, mobile and prefabricated architecture, Factatory now has a second configuration. It consists of two sections, made of wood, steel and glazing of Jean Prouvé modules: a 54 square meter collective space and a small 18 square meter structure. The small space functions exclusively as a workshop for visual artists, designers and architects. The large structure works as an experimental hybrid space acting as a workshop and exhibition space simultaneously rendering the process of creation legible and visible. A transversal creation / production site dedicated above all to research and experimentation by a creators selected on a call-for-proposals basis. In addition, the space hosts various activities on a short or long term basis with its flexible architectural configuration that can suit the nature of each project.
Conversations. Montréal | Lyon was made possible thanks to the Canada Arts Council, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie du Québec / Fonds Émérillon de coopération franco-québécoise and the l'Institut français / Ville de Lyon.

Philippe Allard is interested in the impact of human activities on the environment. Inspired by Arte Povera, he salvages and collects materials and objects from industrial production and diverts the original meaning by transposing them into a new context. By exposing mass-produced objects, such as crates of milk, satellite dishes, transport pallets, he examines the environmental consequences of a consumer society towards programmed obsolescence. Privileging on-site interventions, he has made several commissions for public and private works. With a Bachelor degree in Graphic Design from UQAM, Philippe Allard is a self-taught artist living and working in Montréal. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions, at Articule, Fonderie Darling and recently at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown. He has also participated in several group exhibitions, including the 5th Biennial of Marrakech and the 31st Symposium international d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul (2013). Along with Justin Duchesneau, he was the winner of the Place des Arts de Montréal competition (2009) and recipient of the AGAC Prix d’art public (2014). Since 2013, he has created several sculptural projects of integrating art into the architecture and environment, including two for the 375th anniversary of Ville de Montréal in 2017.