Unveiling of the Annual Program
A Message from the Artistic Director
Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to work with my colleagues to develop a programming cycle that reflects the vitality with which contemporary artists engage with the social, cultural, and identity-related issues of our time. They show us that, from the uncertainty and turmoil we are collectively experiencing, various forms of resistance emerge, with art serving as a powerful vehicle for expressing them.
In 2026-2027, the programming invites us to reconsider our relationships with the living world, the territory, and the images that shape our understanding of the world. Through multidisciplinary practices ranging from sculpture and installation to photography, video, sound, and performance, the artists presented explore the connections between embodied experience, knowledge, memory, and belonging.
An awareness of our environment, attentive observation, and the embodiment of knowledge are among the approaches explored by the artists at Plein sud this year. The exhibitions will unfold as spaces for dialogue, encounter, and listening, fostering an active reflection on our presence within the territory and its ecosystems, whether natural, built, appropriated, or politicized.
— Emmanuelle Choquette, Artistic Director of Plein sud
Program 2026-2027
Patrick Bérubé
Et ainsi de suite...
[And So On...]
Double exposition
Artistic Direction: Ève Dorais and Daria Elas
September 19 to December 20, 2026
Opening: September 19, from 2 p.m. at the Maison de la culture Marcel-Robidas, followed by 3:30 p.m. at Plein sud (free shuttle from Montréal (Berri-UQAM) available, details to come)
This fall, two venues in dialogue, the Maison de la culture Marcel-Robidas and Plein sud, a contemporary art exhibition centre in Longueuil, invite the public to discover the fascinating work of Patrick Bérubé, a major figure in contemporary Quebec art.
In his immersive installations and assemblage sculptures, Patrick Bérubé transforms everyday, reclaimed, organic, and industrial materials into veritable visual ecosystems that question our relationships with the environment, the living world, and society.
At the Maison de la culture Marcel-Robidas, immerse yourself in a retrospective journey spanning more than twenty years of artistic practice. At Plein sud, discover the final chapter of an ambitious artistic trilogy.
Claudia Bernal
Faire la route, dégager le temps : interventions avec le paysage
[Taking the Road, Making Time: Interventions with the Landscape]
January 16 to March 27, 2027
Stemming from research initiated during a residency in nature in Spain’s Montes de Toledo, the exhibition Faire la route, dégager le temps : interventions avec le paysage explores relationships between the body, the territory, and its living entities. Claudia Bernal further develops the notion of the body-territory from a more-than-human perspective, inviting us to reflect on the sensitive, intimate, and political dimensions of our occupation of space. This immersive installation combining sculpture, sound, photography, and video will be activated through a performance conceived in collaboration with dancer Danae Serinet.
Performance presented during a residency at La naturaleza del paisaje, Spain, 2024. Photo credit: Claudia Bernal
Manon De Pauw
De près. De loin. De Pauw.
[From Close. From Afar. From De Pauw.]
May 15 to July 3, 2027
In this exhibition, Manon De Pauw continues her research into performed images, bringing together photography, projection, music, and performance. Drawing on the aesthetics of medical and scientific imaging, as well as the history of photography, she creates a parcours in which the near and the distant, the visible and the invisible, knowledge and memory enter into dialogue. Alongside rational approaches to visualizing the living world, the artist introduces a poetic and sensitive dimension by bringing autobiographical narratives into play. Through various shifts in scale, she invites us to reflect on the conditions of attentive looking, whether directed inward toward the body or outward toward the vastness of the cosmos.
Ces petites choses, performance presented at the Centre d’art Jacques et Michel Auger, 2026. Photo credit: Alcida Sudre.
