Mercer Union is pleased to announce the opening of two new exhibitions

on Thursday August 31st, 2006, at 8pm.

Front Gallery: Michelle Allard (Toronto/Vancouver) Flourish

“With reams of fluorescent office paper, glue sticks and expended

fluorescent light tubes, Allard creates her work by shaping the sheets

of paper around the tubes and then installing the resulting forms

upright and at varying heights. Like information, there are spikes and

recesses with contour contingent upon the space. It is elegant and

efficient. ”

– excerpted from the brochure essay by Brian Joseph Davis

Michelle Allard is an artist based in Toronto and Vancouver. Recent

exhibitions include Transformation/Metamorphosis at Aomori

Contemporary Art Centre, Japan, In the Pink at Association Pollen,

France, 2005; Extruded Expanded at YYZ Artists Outlet, 2004, and will

be exhibiting at Eye Level gallery in Halifax in early September, and

will be showing solo work at Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, in November.

She has taken part in several residencies; Association Pollen, France,

2005; Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Japan, 2005, and Aceartinc in

Winnipeg, 2004. Michelle Allard is represented by Diaz Contemporary,

Toronto.

Back Gallery: Maïder Fortuné (Paris, France) Everything is Going to be All Right

“Everything is Going to be All Right reveals Maïder Fortuné’s double

passion, her double practice of media arts and performance. Producing

such a piece requires both the ability to feel and understand the

sensation of a body moving or still, as well as the ability to capture

the expressive intensity of these states through the image - the eye.

Therefore, her experience and knowledge of two different ways to

approach space combine for a unique exploration of space.”

- excerpted from the brochure essay by Catherine Sicot

Maïder Fortuné lives and works in Paris. After study in the Jacques

Lecoq International School of Physical Theatre in 1998, Fortuné

created her own theatre company where she produced several happenings

and pieces involving her own body. Her exploration of body, movement

and space led her to work in video and sound, explorations begun

during her studies at Le Fresnoy National Studio for Contemporary Art,

based in Tourcoing, France. Fortunés work has evolved toward the

realization of performance-based multimedia installations.

Exhibition Dates: August 31st to October 7th, 2006

Opening: August 31st, 7PM

Artist Talks: Maïder Fortuné, Michelle Allard at 7PM August 31st, 2006

Mercer Union

37 Lisgar Street

Toronto ON M6J 3T3

www.mercerunion.org

info@mercerunion.org

Brochure essays are available at www.mercerunion.org. Catherine

Sicot’s text on Maïder Fortuné is available in French and its English

translation.