MOMENTA Biennale de l'image — Masquerades: Drawn to Metamorphosis

Curator : Ji-Yoon Han

Carey Young
The Vision Machine

From September 7 to October 21, 2023
Opening on September 8, 2023 at 5 pm
— Facebook event

In her work, Carey Young examines the rhetorics of power within the institutional, commercial, or state structures on which capitalist societies are built. Attending specifically to the representation of female subjectivity, Young activates mechanisms of mimetics and performativity to surface gender inequality and the arbitrariness of administrative procedures. At the crossroads of various disciplines, including law, business, politics, and science, her works transform how we perceive bodies and reality.

The exhibition at Dazibao features two video works by Carey Young that deconstruct the official narrative of how great men carried out an optical conquest of the world. In the screening room, The Vision Machine (2020) takes us inside the factories of SIGMA Corporation, a manufacturer of high-quality lenses. Shooting her video with lenses manufactured by the company, Young observes the production process from the mechanized grinding of the glass to the assembly of the parts and manual calibration of the finished product. The human agents in this process are exclusively female: the work thus also doubles as a speculative fiction in which the metaphorical matrix of all contemporary visual culture, the lens factory, is entirely run by women. As a counterpoint, Mirror System (2023) consists of a montage of excerpts from tutorials, demos, and promotional videos for cameras and lenses. Young has cut away all images of the photographers (a systematically male figure in this type of production) to expose a sequence of models (invariably female). Their “capture” by the camera is thus inverted in a powerful affirmation of a feminized gaze.

Exhibition presented by MOMENTA Biennale de l’image and produced in partnership with Dazibao.

Carey Young’s recent work across video, photography, text, performance and installation explores relations between women, the gaze and systems of power. Her work has been exhibited widely, including solo shows at Modern Art Oxford (2023), Dallas Museum of Art (2017), Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2013), The Power Plant, Toronto (2009) and Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2009). Group shows include Centre Pompidou (Paris and Brussels), Jeu de Paume (Paris), MoMA PS1 (New York), New Museum (New York), Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Whitechapel Gallery and Secession (Vienna) amongst many others. She has participated in numerous biennials, including Busan (2020), Moscow (2013, 2007), Taipei (2010), Sharjah (2005), and Venice (2003). Young’s works are held in major public collections including Tate, Centre Pompidou, Sharjah Art Foundation, Kadist Foundation, Arts Council England Collection and Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst amongst others. She is based in London, UK and is represented by Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. 

About MOMENTA Biennale de l’image

MOMENTA Biennale de l’image is a flagship Montréal event devoted to contemporary art. For more than 30 years, MOMENTA has been inviting artists and audiences from the world over to gather in the city’s museums, galleries, and artist-run centres. Its activities include exhibitions, public events, and educational workshops that introduce participants to artists, both local and international, whose works pique curiosity and stimulate reflection.