The asphalt on Montreal’s streets is getting hotter and hotter, and it’s going to be easier and easier to wander all over town to check out exhibitions.
Before summer arrives, let’s go see it in Montreal;
Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s “other worlds” consist of six major works created by the artist over the past ten years. The Danish artist prepares each of his works through in-depth ecological research, and each of his virtual “worlds” is rooted in a changing environment: Bora Bora, volcanic seabeds, geothermal springs.
The artist’s sound-and-video installations utilize the jerky movements of video games; visitors can wander through unreal worlds in virtual reality or by sitting in front of reanimated videos. The underwater scenes are digitized.
To address the topic of tourism, Kudsk Steensen created a video exploring an abandoned idyllic tropical resort that moves like a 2000s-era computer game, which we watch, feeling vaguely queasy, while sitting on a lounge chair.
Each new work we immerse ourselves in is like a piece of a dystopian, ultra-colorful universe that serves as a sublimating mirror of our world in decline. And as time goes on, these other worlds merge with reality—and it becomes more and more beautiful.
For more information, visit the PHI website – here
Paola Pivi’s exhibition, presented by PHI and guest curator Kanika Anand of Calgary Contemporary, is half fairy tale and half satirical installation of the modern world.
You can slip into the middle of a pile of colorful mattresses, like the ones the Princess and the Pea lay on in the children’s story. They are made of velvet and suspended—you can lie down between the ones below and those above by wearing gloves and plastic shoe covers.
In a separate room, a small metal house has been built, and inside, images flash rapidly across TV screens. A voice, speaking first in English and then in French, states lies as if they were facts: We know everything—Genocide is impossible—ICE is a well-known child protective service—No lies were ever told about Covid.
The exhibition is barely explained, and you can wander through Paola Pivi’s semi-plastic world as if in a 1990s conceptual pop art exhibition. It brings to mind fairy tales, the satirical tirades of characters from Don DeLillo’s novels, 24-hour TV channels, social media trolls, and vacation postcards. You might also just wonder: what is this sculpture doing to my reptilian brain?
For more information, visit the PHI website – hereBiennale d’Art Contemporain Autochtone (BACA) at Galerie Art Mûr
The Indigenous Contemporary Art Biennial (BACA) will present works by twenty Indigenous artists from around the world—Guatemala, Sweden, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Mexico, Nigeria—and will revolve around the theme of color. The title of this edition of BACA isTraversing the Territory. Color is not neutral.
Color is mineral, originating from the earth and representative of the territory, but also as a creator of sacred cosmologies, as a ceremonial gesture, and as a weapon and motif of resistance. For more information, click here
This edition of BACA will run from April 2026 to February 2027 in five cities across Quebec: Montreal, Drummondville, Sherbrooke, Saint-Hyacinthe, and Rimouski.
When Words Become Gentle by Keerat Kaur at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
$31 for ages 26 and up, $15.50 on Wednesday evenings, free for ages 25 and under, members of Indigenous communities, and people with disabilities and their companion
Artist Keerat Kaur’s exhibition is deeply rooted in her childhood in thegurdwara —a Sikh place of worship, gathering, and learning. Her work explores the concept ofmithi boli(“sweet word” in Punjabi), which lies at the heart of Sikh thought, through pastel colors and dreamlike spaces.
for more information, click here
The centerpiece of UQAM’s Design Annual, now in its 12th edition, is an exhibition showcasing the work of nearly 250 graduating students from the university’s School of Design and School of Fashion.
It’s happening at the UQAM Design Pavilion, a six-story glass-and-metal structure that was awarded the 20th Century Award in April 2026 by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).
The pavilion’s six floors will be transformed into an exhibition space for the works and projects of students in the bachelor’s programs in graphic design and visual experiences, environmental design, fashion management and design, event design, and the master’s program in environmental design.
In addition to the exhibition, there will be a fashion show by students from UQAM’s École Supérieure de mode, the launch of a book on women architects, and a magazine focused on design and architecture.
On shelves, in stacks, scattered by Jessica Wee at McBride Contemporain
Artist Jessica Wee’s solo exhibition explores traditional Korean still life and themes of identity and contemporary surrealism.
