Departure of France Choinière, General and Artistic Director of Dazibao

It is with regret, but also with deep gratitude and a great appreciation for the scope of her achievements, that Dazibao's Board of Directors announces the coming departure of France Choinière, General and Artistic Director. Having dedicated a great part of her career to Dazibao, France Choinière has made the organization into the leading art center it is today. Over almost 30 years, she has published 80 books, developed and presented over 200 exhibitions and as many events. She has been a driving force in Dazibao's development, moving it from Berri Street to its present location, affirming the center's role as a place for meeting, exchange, reflection, experimentation and research for artists, authors, curators and the public. 

France's rigorous, warm, sensitive intelligence, her vision and exacting standards for artistic excellence, and her way of examining art and images have profoundly shaped Dazibao. Over the years, France has ushered Dazibao towards recognition on the international scene, giving it a place within global art discourses by presenting the work of such renowned artists as James Benning, Kapwani Kiwanga, Moyra Davey, Suzy Lake, Rabih Mroué, The Otolith Group, Ben Rivers, Chris Marker, Bas Jan Ader, Jayce Salloum, David Tomas, Akram Zaatari, Karrabing Film Collective, Joyce Wieland, Duke & Battersby, Mika Taanila, and many others. Since she arrived in 1996, with Les Éditions Dazibao, she has established a program whose editorial rigor has continued to be recognized both locally and abroad, over the years publishing the work of artists such as Lynne Cohen, Zineb Sedira, Gustavo Artigas, Jim Verburg, Evergon, Raymonde April, among others, and authors such a Allan Sekula, Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Georges Didi-Huberman, Blake Stimson, Denise Desautels, Catherine Mavrikakis, Karim Kattan, Vincent Bonin, Nicole Gingras. She was keen to offer the voices of emerging artists a platform within Dazibao’s programming, and to inscribe them within a broader art ecology, and has worked on the first major solo exhibitions of artists such as Chih-Chien Wang, Myriam Jacob-Allard, Marion Lessard, Velibor Božović, Zinnia Naqvi, Jinyoung Kim as well as solo projects by established local artists including Abbas Akhavan, Nelson Henricks, Geneviève Chevalier, Isabelle Pauwels, Thomas Kneubühler, Chantal duPont, Steve Bates, Julie Tremble.

France has consistently been generous with her ideas and her time. She has initiated numerous lasting programs and partnerships: the production-dissemination residency with PRIM (2005), the Jeune tête d'affiche award (2008), the Sessions program (2011), Dazibao satellite (façades of Café Cherrier and Bonsecours Market, 2011), the dv_vd screening evenings with Vidéographe and the Instagram Residency (2018). Thanks to France, Dazibao is recognized for its vital, foundational role in the local ecosystem.

France Choinière's work has made Dazibao an indispensable point of reference for research, creation and the dissemination of contemporary image practices, a mature organization possessing a historical perspective yet always on the lookout, a vector of change as much as of memory. We wish her every success in her future endeavors.

Thank you, France, for your unwavering commitment, your vision, and your immense generosity.

— The Board of Directors

Amélie Brault, Miryam Charles, Omar Elhamy,
Karim Kattan, Chih-Chien Wang