© Maude Chauvin
Our passions will spontaneously, unpredictably, necessarily forge the future.
Those words were written here in Montreal 70 years ago by the artists whose Refus global manifesto conveyed their profound dissatisfaction with the closed society they lived in, a holy realm dominated by fear, a society they found suffocating.
Our world, so much more advanced scientifically and technologically, is exhausted and clearly alarmed about the future. The soil, the fauna and flora, are stretched to the breaking point. The unnerving speed at which we conduct our lives gnaws at our souls and devastates our forests. To whom, to what do we turn to catch a glimpse of better tomorrows? To silence, to harmony, to beauty.
Artists focus specifically on that, on beauty, even when their work is dominated by the most appalling ugliness. Beauty by default, absolute beauty. Extravagant stock market returns in oil and gas investments are not beauty. Copper redhorse in the waters surrounding Contrecoeur, very much so.
Defiant pearls began to seep through cracks in the fortress walls.
I have made that phrase, also taken from Refus global, my own. Those pearls are apparent in the 25 shows that make up this 12th edition of the Festival TransAmériques. I invite you to trace them, to string them together into flamboyant necklaces in defiance of the producers of false riches who claim to govern for the public good. In the name of beauty.
On behalf of the future.
Martin Faucher
Co-Executive Director and Artistic Director
© Sandrick Mathurin
The world is changing at incredible speed, disparities in income and opportunity are expanding, one generation after another must continually redefine who they are and where they are going.
Our society and our values are being transformed almost spontaneously before our eyes. The imperfect past is called into question in the present. The immediate future must be reconstructed.
We must summon up the courage and hope to face the future. A great sense of responsibility must prevail so that Quebec society can grow and evolve in these fraught times. In that context, artists have a remarkable role to play. They reflect a situational awareness, the impact of these changes on our bodies and on our lives, and propose promising paths toward a renewed present. Dance and theatre constantly place humans centre stage — at the centre of the world — thus affirming an essential humanism.
This spring the Festival TransAmériques once again pays tribute to the great vitality of dance and theatre artists from Quebec and across the world by bringing them together in an international event dedicated to the contemporary performing arts.
We ask attentive, curious spectators, passionate or eager for greater awareness, to leaf through the program as well as the activities in our FTA Playgrounds. Take the plunge ! By venturing beyond the familiar, we find what we’re looking for. We invite you to take part in this great human and collective adventure.
Welcome one and all!
David Lavoie
Co-Executive Director and Administrative
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