Clelia Coussonnet
Clelia Coussonnet Selected for the 2022 Paris/Vancouver Curatorial Residency Program
This program is a collaboration between The Polygon Gallery, Griffin Art Projects, and Cité internationale des arts, with the support of The Embassy of France in Canada and the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris.
Clelia Coussonnet. Photo by Emile Barret/Hors Pistes
The Polygon Gallery and Griffin Art Projects are pleased to announce that curator and writer Clelia Coussonnet from Marseilles, France, has been selected for the 2022 Paris/Vancouver Curatorial Residency Program.
Beginning September 4, the program is a collaboration between The Polygon Gallery, Griffin Art Projects, and Cité internationale des arts, with the support of The Embassy of France in Canada and the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris.
Coussonnet is interested in how visual cultures address political, social and spiritual issues in different, or complementary, ways to other disciplines. She has curated exhibitions at Bildmuseet (Sweden), Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati (USA), Le Cube (Morocco) and MeetFactory (Czech Republic).
“I am thrilled about my upcoming three-month residency in Vancouver, where I plan to pursue my ongoing research on botanical politics, waterways/toxicity, and soil,” says Coussonnet. “I am eager to discover the local cultural scene and connect with practitioners working across research-based and multidisciplinary projects. This residency comes at a crucial moment as I take my curatorial approach in a new direction, connecting many of my previous points of inquiry. In Vancouver, I hope to understand how the colonial history of Canada has made use of plants to assert power over territories, consider the meanders of the city’s waterways and aqueous reserves, and listen to the legacies and murmurs that lie in the earth and sediments.”
Alternating annually for four years between Paris and Vancouver, the aim of the program is to provide opportunities to develop curatorial projects and foster cultural exchange in response to contemporary art contexts in France and Western Canada. The program was established in October 2021. Writer, curator, and cultural producer Missla Libsekal from Vancouver was awarded the inaugural residency, which took place at the Cité internationale des arts in the Marais district of central Paris.
Residents will be hosted at Griffin Art Projects during their tenure. The residency provides travel, accommodation, and a stipend for three months, as well as a production budget to launch a public program, during which Coussonnet will have the opportunity to share her findings from her research in Vancouver.
About The Polygon Gallery
The Polygon is one of Canada’s most acclaimed photography and media art galleries. The Gallery moved into its Governor General’s Medal-winning building in 2017 after operating as Presentation House Gallery for 40 years. The organisation has presented more than 300 exhibitions and earned a reputation as one of Canada’s most adventurous public art institutions. Admission is by donation, courtesy of BMO Financial Group.
Clelia will be in residency during September-November, 2022.
