The Gallery’s collection is the result of collecting practices implemented by the various individuals who successively held the positions of Gallery director and curator of the collection. It highlights the important role of the visual arts in the development of research and knowledge. It serves as a tool to rethink museum methodology, art history and the relations between art and other professional fields. The works in the collection are studied and exhibited at the Gallery as part of critical exhibitions, loaned to various art institutions and reproduced in publications. Moreover, they are made available to researchers, students, writers, professors and publishers.
In the winter of 2023, the Gallery expanded its videographic and photographic collections with the acquisition of 12 new works created by artists Miryam Charles, Theo Jean Cuthand, Philippe Hamelin, Sky Hopinka, Anique Jordan, François Lemieux, Tanya Lukin Linklater, and Ésery Mondésir.
Primarily composed between 2011 and 2017, the video art collection features the works of artists such as Raymonde April, Sophie Bélair Clément, Olivia Boudreau, Brendan Fernandes, Nelson Henricks, Leisure Projects, Jo-Anne Balcaen, Moyra Davey, Isabelle Pauwels, and Krista Belle Stewart. These video works explore various narrative, methodological and structural aspects of the medium, while raising numerous questions about the creative process, language, relationships between reality and fiction, temporality and human subjectivity, among others.
The Gallery’s recent collecting activities are also part of a commitment to actively engage in the ongoing discussions regarding the decolonization of art institutions and addressing institutional discrimination towards Black, Indigenous, people of color, and other marginalized communities. The Gallery strives to enhance the representation of diverse voices and perspectives within its collection.
Among these important acquisitions are three prints by Kent Monkman (added to our collection in 2013), Krista Belle Stewart’s video Seraphine, Seraphine (2014, acquired in 2017), and Raymond Boisjoly’s wall installation Author’s Preface (2015, also acquired in 2017). In addition to these, we have expanded the collection in 2023 with videos such as Just Dandy (2013) and Reclamation (2018) by Theo Jean Cuthand, An amplification through many minds (2019) by Tanya Lukin Linklater, wawa (2014) by Sky Hopinka, What Happens to a Dream Deferred (2020) by Ésery Mondésir, Vole, Vole Tristesse (2015), Vers les Colonies (2016), and Une Forteresse (2018) by Miryam Charles, as well as the photographs Notes and A Place That Is No Good (2019) by Anique Jordan.
Moreover, this structured development of the collection takes into consideration the history of contemporary art by targeting major works by Quebecois and Canadian artists produced in the second half of the twentieth century and associated with the gallery’s exhibitions history. In the last few years, the gallery has explored this secondary mandate within its acquisition program to fill important gaps in the collection—in particular with regard to conceptual art.