“Altération Générale”
Curated by Alli Melanson

Andrew Hoekstra, John Knight, Liza Lacroix, Craig Jun Li,
Bonny Poon, Jackson Slattery, Justin Tenney

September 26-December 14, 2024

PDF

Before they said Chris Andrews, the windows of this space were doubly inscribed with the phrase ‘Altération Générale’, advertising the tailoring services provided within. We’ve spent some time in this room since its name and occupation changed. We reupholstered the platform at the entrance for the inaugural show in which our work was included. We presented a solo exhibition here. As the curator of this show, we’ve organized thoughts and artworks with people holding multiple occupations within the ‘art world’.

We started thinking about a sensation induced by singing someone else’s song - a temporary transposition into the melody of another. We thought about covers and karaoke, but also about a garment previously fit to one body and altered to the shape of another. Together, we introduced ourselves to Imi and Imi, we spoke about Degree Zero, Acéphale, and the aestheticization of non-material practice, singing the songs of predecessors who were also after the empty center. We organize ourselves in proximity to movements, shapes, cultural memory – oblique angles circling towards this empty center.

There are invisible overlaps between us, we are wearing many hats - artist, gallerist, assistant, fabricator, handler, writer, performer, curator…What can aesthetic gestures say about our togetherness? We switch hats and sometimes lose our heads to the organization too. Sometimes we don’t feel our own hands. Sometimes our name is eclipsed by another of the same name. We and everything are is continually being altered and the world reorganizes itself around us.

We are interested in blurring roles, acting as proxies, sourcing and fabricating works from a distance, receiving instructions. Our own work has been restaged by another artist, so now it has 2 authors. We are beginning to think of it as our piece. Its original title translates to “I am are the immaculate conception”, a strangely pluralized utterance of immaterial wholeness by a 19th c. Marian apparition. We instructed us to build and upholster a second stage. We continue to cast actors and make use of stand-ins. We are speaking a pluralized conjugation of destiny.

– Alli Melanson

Andrew Hoekstra lives and works in Montréal. He is currently completing an MFA at Concordia University (Montréal) and holds a BA from the University of Alberta (Edmonton) and a BFA from OCAD University (Toronto).

John Knight (b. 1986) is based in London and Montana. Selected solo exhibitions include presentations at Final Hot Desert, London; Greatorex Street, London; Monaco, St. Louis; Apparatus Projects, Chicago; BSMNT Gallery, Leipzig; Julius Caesar, Chicago; The American Institute of Thoughts and Feelings, Tucson; and Muscle Beach, Portland. Selected group exhibitions include involvement with Solar Noon, Cincinnati; Final Hot Desert; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Utah; and As It Stands, Los Angeles. Knight co-directed the curatorial projects: Williamson Knight Gallery, Portland; Cherry and Lucic, Portland; H. Klum Fine Art, Portland; and THE PINK HOUSE [Jan. 19, 1995] at Bad Reputation, Los Angeles. He organised Grace is the only exception by Siera Hyte at Final Hot Desert. Knight received an MFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.

Liza Lacroix has exhibited at Neue Galerie Gladbeck, DE (2024); Le Consortium, Dijon, FR (2024); Tara Downs, New York, NY (2024); two seven two, Toronto, CA (2024); PEANA, Mexico City, MX (2024); K11 Art Mall, Shanghai, CN (2023); Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, DE (2023); Zweigstelle, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Rome and Naples, IT (2023; 2022); Magenta Plains, New York, NY (2022, 2021); Albertusstrasse, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, DE (2022); Peana, Monterrey, MX (2018); M23, New York, NY (2018); AC Repair, Toronto, CA (2016); and Popps Packing, Hamtramck, MI (2015). Lacroix has participated in artist residency programs in Detroit, London, New Mexico, Oaxaca and Italy.

Craig Jun Li (b. 1998,  Zhengzhou, China) lives and works in New York. They are a current MFA candidate at Hunter College (New York).

Bonny Poon lives and works in Toronto. She holds an MFA from Staedelschule (Frankfurt). Solo exhibitions include City Galerie Wien (Vienna), Kammer Rieck (Berlin), Shanaynay (Paris), and Marbriers 4 (Geneva). Her films have screened at Queer Thoughts (New York), ICA (London), Maladie d'Amour (Grenoble) and Suicidal Oil Piglet (Melbourne). She is the director of the gallery Bonny Poon / Conditions (Paris/Toronto).

Jackson Slattery lives and works in Montréal. He holds an MFA from Concordia University (Montréal) and a BFA from RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia). Solo presentations include Parc Offsite (Montréal), Sutton Gallery (Melbourne), Setouchi Triennale (Setouchi), ISCP (NYC), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney). He has participated in group shows at Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Sarah Cottier (Sydney) and Neon Parc (Melbourne).

Justin Tenney lives and works in Montréal, where he runs 100 Bell Towers.

Alli Melanson lives and works in Montréal. She holds an MFA from Concordia University (Montréal) and a BFA from OCAD University (Toronto). Solo exhibitions include 100 Bell Towers, Joe Project, Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery, and Chris Andrews (all Montréal). She has participated in group exhibitions at Cherry Hill (Cologne), Chris Andrews, and Franz Kaka (Toronto). She will present a solo exhibition at Bonny Poon / Conditions (Toronto) in November, 2024.