BIG BANG at OTTAWA's SAW GALLERY

Reception and Party Friday, July 31, 8PM - 2AM Free admission + cash bar Music with The Acorn (Ottawa), Scattered Clouds (Gatineau) + DJ CPI (Ottawa) at 8:30PM in the SAW Outdoor Courtyard. Presented in collaboration with Debaser HB no 4—Erotica Magazine Launch Participating artists: Patrick Bernatchez, Catherine Bolduc, Shauna Born, Shary Boyle, Michael DeForge, Annie Descôteaux, Virginie Jourdain, Véronique Lévesque-Pelletier, Paul P., Ed Pien, Annie Pootoogook, Kananginak Pootoogook + Jean-Luc Verna. Published by: ARPRIM, articule, AXENÉO7, Centre CLARK, Galerie Joyce Yahouda, Galerie SAW Gallery + Musée d’art contemporain des Laurentides Food and refreshments generously offered by St-Albert Cheese, Wild Oat, SuzyQ Doughnuts, Red Bull, DAVIDsTEA + Bridgehead Featuring fourteen artists spanning many generations, Big Bang is an unprecedented survey exhibition showcasing large-scale works and new commissions by artists hailing from or currently based in the national capital region. The exhibition presents up-and-coming and established artists from Ottawa-Gatineau who have attracted a considerable amount of attention on the Canadian and international art scenes in recent years, bringing this region’s contemporary art scene to the fore. Aiming to reveal the breadth and influence of the work being produced today by artists from Ottawa-Gatineau, Big Bangspotlights critical and career-defining works such as the monumental installation Animate Grounds by Amy Schissel, conceived for the VOLTA BASEL art fair in 2014, a never-before-exhibited series of drawings by Sobey Art Award winner Annie Pootoogook and the internationally acclaimed performance Yellow Towel by Dana Michel, to be presented in Ottawa for the first time. The exhibition positions Ottawa-Gatineau as an exciting art hub, proposing a new perspective on its ever-evolving contemporary art scene, with its recently opened galleries, many planned cultural infrastructure projects and the emergence of Vieux-Hull as a magnet for young artists. Making a case for the value and viability of decentred cultural production outside of larger art centres, Big Bang holds up Ottawa-Gatineau’s impressively varied and diverse art scene as a model and invites us to celebrate the recent successes of some of the region’s brightest art stars. The performance Yellow Towel by Dana Michel will be presented in collaboration with the Ottawa Dance Directive in September 2015 (date to be announced). Funders: Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council + City of Ottawa Partners: Ottawa Dance Directive, Debaser, Arboretum Music Festival, Dominion City Brewing Co., St-Albert Cheese, Wild Oat, SuzyQ Doughnuts, Red Bull, DAVIDsTEA + Bridgehead