L’art de perruquer / Parallel Play

Zoe Ann Cardinal Cire, Patrick Cruz, Louis-Charles Dionne, Nicolas Fleming, Bernie Goulem, Jake Kimble, Marlon Kroll, Clara Lacasse, Mea Bissett et Selina Latour, Richard Ibghy et Marilou Lemmens, Frédérique Ulman-Gagné et Jacinthe Loranger, Fiona Nguyen, Studio Rat, Émile Riopel, Aman Sandhu, Jem Woolidge

Curators: Manel Benchabane and Ariane De Blois

About the Exhibition

L'art de perruquer / Parallel Play features sixteen artists and artist duos, divided between two venues, who use everyday materials, gestures, and references to play with artistic and institutional conventions. 

This reflection on creation and exhibition spaces is the result of a collaboration between two curators and two institutions, each of which has a distinct history but is deeply rooted in its community: the Stewart Hall Art Gallery, housed in a former manor converted into a cultural centre, and the Musée d'art de Joliette, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year.

The exhibition’s title is inspired by the concept of perruquage, developed by Michel de Certeau in his book L’Invention du quotidien (1980). The term refers to how labourers discreetly divert time, tools, and resources from their work to create freely, as an artist would do. It is a modest, often invisible creative gesture, but one that gently resists the established order and the prescribed usage of things.

Emulating this crafty ingenuity, the artists in L’art de perruquer / Parallel Play work from “inside.” They transform rules and constraints into opportunities by bringing the mundane into the heart of the museum and the gallery and, through skilful digressions, imbue it with poetry and wonder. 

Familiar objects, found items, DIY projects, quirky perspectives – through these materials and means, what is private and ordinary invades the exhibition space, making the institutional context itself a creative medium.

Artists Presented at the Stewart Hall Art Gallery

Zoe Ann Cardinal Cire, Patrick Cruz, Nicolas Fleming, Bernie Goulem, Jake Kimble, Marlon Kroll, Clara Lacasse, Mea Bissett & Selina Latour, Frédérique Ulman-Gagné & Jacinthe Loranger, Studio Rat, Émile Riopel, Jem Woolidge

Vernissage

On Sunday, July 5, from 12 to 4 p.m., the Stewart Hall Art Gallery invites you to a Picnic Vernissage at Stewart Hall Park to celebrate the launch of the new exhibition L’art de perruquer / Parallel Play.

The exhibition will also be presented at the Musée d’art de Joliette from June 20 to September 7, 2026. 

Partner

A group exhibition presented by the Musée d’art de Joliette and the Stewart Hall Art Gallery.

Visit the exhibition in Joliette

Legend: Studio Rat, L.D.P.E. (Lovely, Dreamy, Plastic Experience) Quilt, 2022. Picture: Nik Arthur.