Night of ideas - CANADA, January 28, 2021

Over the course of an evening, the artistic, academic, medical, entrepreneurial and business communities from New Brunswick, Quebec and France will share their digital experience in their relationships with others. Successes and failures will be discussed, and each one will talk about his or her own path to maintain ties in a world where isolation is the rule.

"On the evening of January 28th, the world of science, museums and the public in the Atlantic, Quebec and France will be questioning the question of the "right distance" to information and beings in a digitalized world. In search of a positive future, proximity and distance will be debated through the arts, sciences and lively and thoughtful exchanges".

Galerie R3 and the Groupe URAV (UQTR) are offering a Night of Ideas divided into two sessions during which conferences, debates and musical and video performances alternate in the context of the exhibition by French artist Bernard Pourrière. During these sequences, you can meet Nicolas Bourriaud, director of the MO.CO and art critic, Derrick de Kerckhove, media theorist, Hervé Fischer, artist-philosopher, Pierre Ouellet, researcher and writer, Christine Palmieri, artist and writer, and the French artist Bernard Pourrière. During these sequences, you can find Nicolas Bourriaud, director of the MO.CO and art critic, Derrick de Kerckhove, media theorist, Hervé Fischer, artist-philosopher, Pierre Ouellet, researcher and writer, Christine Palmieri, artist and poet-art critic as well as Slobodan Radosavljevic, artist and teacher.

The Galerie de l'UQAM returns this year with three duos of committed women where the notions of humanity, community and proximity intersect. Rima Elkouri, journalist, Kapwani Kiwanga, artist (Prix Marcel-Duchamp 2020), and curators Gaëtane Verna, Véronique Leblanc and Sonia Recasens explore angles of realities as diverse as the experience of exile and immigration, otherness and solidarity, inclusion and exclusion. Video works by Leila Zelli and Isabelle Kanapé are also presented.

The Maison de la littérature de Québec explores the theme Proches with author Alain Damasio (Grand Prix de l'imaginaire 2020) during a major interview with the bookstore Les Bouquinistes de Chicoutimi. During a virtual round-table discussion, author Alain Mabanckou and authors Marie-Ève Lacasse and Michèle Ouimet will discuss how expatriation influences their writing process, their work and their relationship to identity. Cocoons capsules with authors Anne-Marie Desmeules and Naomi Fontaine, and author Jean Sioui will punctuate the discussions - realized in collaboration with the Maison natale of

The artist-run center le LOBE in Chicoutimi presents a round-table discussion with Marcelle Dubé, professor in social sciences and humanities, Eruoma Awashish, visual artist Atikamewk, Normand Baillargeon, philosopher and Yves-Marie Abraham, professor and thinker of degrowth. A concert by Sheenah Ko, live from the Centre d'Expérimentation Musicale, will close the evening.

The artist-run center Sporobole, the Théâtre des Petites Lanternes and the University of Sherbrooke are jointly presenting two capsules to rethink the proximity between art and science, two subjects that at first glance appear to be opposed. The first one exposes Axauralité, a research-creation project by Georges Roussel, Ana Dall'Ara Majek, and Philippe-Aubert Gauthier on the principle of augmented listening, through the material means of acoustic crystals. Next, L'âme de Monarques will be broadcast, a capsule in which dancers Simon Durocher, Elise Legrand and French choreographer Thierry Niang discuss how to express post-traumatic shock through dance. The public is then invited to debate virtually during a Kitchen Party of geeks and artists: bickering, bickering and love.

The pandemic has affected personal and professional relationships: two panels of experts in psychology, linguistics, moving images, museology and space travel will speak about it in French and English, guided by two personalities from the business and research world. These panels will be complemented by live piano performances, a major interview with futurologist writer Alain Damasio, and an interview with the director and producer of the works on the life of French cosmonaut Thomas Pesquet.

How can ideas, science and the arts bring us closer together in an age of great isolation? How, in the face of the rise of individualism and nationalism, in the face of the fragmentation of community solidarity, in the face of a violent history, an anxiety-provoking present and an uncertain future, can dialogue between people, between genders, between cultures, demine, break down walls erected on fault lines, repair damaged relationships, create new ones? In light of the notion of "rapprochement(s)", Toronto's Ideas Night will offer a series of online discussions between Canada and France, artistic performances, readings and screenings, from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am.

Listen to the evening sounds as you follow the footsteps of Dr. Tallbear, a professor at the University of Alberta. We'll discuss the place of First Nations in Edmonton, the place of technology in our society, the place of nature in our society? A breath of fresh air and reflection!

"Citizen 2.0: Towards a fairer world for nature and humans? »

Citizens 2.0 encourages us to take our individual and collective responsibilities. They are committed, authentic and their gestures are driven by values that are dear to their hearts. They privilege time rather than money, put the being before the having and wish to preserve the natural world. These men and women have invented new ways to collaborate, to educate themselves, to consume and to build new forms of solidarity.

Closing during COVID: a night of stories and connection

"For many pandemic has brought isolation and loneliness, as the virus makes it difficult to meet with friends and family or attend public events.
And yet, Covid has also allowed us to find new solidarities with each other, and reflect on the importance of our relations with the ones who are usually close to us."

Let's connect and explore the promise of community contact and memory, as well as personal resilience that culture holds. Thus, after evoking the humorous e-mail chains, virtual museum visits or musical parodies that have punctuated our lives in French during the pandemic, we will compose and share our own stories and reflections. Let's share our isolations!