The 9th edition of Manif d’art – Quebec City Biennial

Manif d’art 9 – The Quebec City Biennial, produced in collaboration with the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ), was a nine-week showcase for contemporary art with exhibits all over the city of Quebec. This second winter edition of the event, which attracted large crowds, was a great success.

Manif d’art 9 in numbers
For 64 days, the 9th Quebec City Biennial drew thousands of visitors. More than 100 works, most of them never before seen, were shown at the main exhibit at the MNBAQ, at approximately 15 cultural venues throughout the city, and in the streets of Old Quebec. The 100 participating artists from nine countries and nearly 50 partner organizations came together with one common goal: to promote contemporary art and culture in the heart of the capital.  

Manif d’art was also the occasion for two dozen art openings, nearly 20 satellite activities and a dozen complementary events, including an international symposium, professional meetings, a Pecha Kucha event, and two book launches—not to mention five massive snowstorms! The event also generated nearly 600 original content posts on social media and benefited from 340 hours of volunteer work.  

The Biennial was the topic of 80 news items in the local, national and international press. International critics expressed their warm enthusiasm for this major wintertime event. 

“This winter journey through contemporary art leads us from earth to sky, and to lands that are imagined but also actualized, assembled and rearranged.”(Le Soleil, 2019)

“The Québec City Biennial is exceptional in many ways: it is certainly the coldest Biennale anywhere in the world; it is entirely bilingual, often known better by its French name ‘Manif d’art;’ and it is indeed the only major biennale in Canada.” (artcritical, 2019)

Manif d’art 10: Alreadyin the works
Although the ninth Biennial just drew to a close, work for Manif d’art 10 is already well underway. “We have a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment as Manif d’art 9 wraps up, and our experience in recent weeks has given us the energy to dive straight into organizing the tenth Biennial. As a matter of fact, we’re already in talks with the person who will lead us through the next edition. I promise that the curator for Manif d’art 10 will be as inspired as Jonathan Watkins. I’m very much looking forward to telling you who it is!” says Claude Bélanger, general artistic director of Manif d’art. 

Manif d’art 10 will take place in Quebec City in 2021.

Manif d’art would like to thank the Bureau des grands événements, the Ville de Québec, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications, the Canada Council for the Arts, Quebec City Tourism, the Canadian Heritage, lg2, ICI Radio-Canada, Maison Simons, the Commission de la capitale nationale and Méduse.We are also grateful to our two stars from the Constellation initiative, André Fortin and Aude Lafrance-Girard.

*”Stories of the Street” by Leonard Cohen. © 1993, Leonard Cohen, used by permission of the Wylie Agency (UK) Limited.