Programmation

As a longstanding supporter of the work of emerging artists, Folie/Culture is pleased to award the 2018 Prix Garde-Fou to Nadia-Malika Essalik, a graduating BFA (Visual and Media Arts) student at Université Laval.The Prix Garde-Fou is a $400 cash prize awarded every year to a graduating student whose work emerges from an unorthodox research process and reflects Folie/Culture’s mission. The prize also comes with a critical text by performing artist and critic Alain-Martin Richard. Here is an excerpt:

This work by Nadia-Malika Essalik immediately struck as the perfect embodiment of the Folie/Culture ethos, the work of a talented young artist exploring the hinterland between reason and unreason. It only took a few minutes of experiencing her video installation for us to be won over by how the artist transforms OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) symptoms into art. The installation’s low-tech style and minimalism is in perfect harmony with the content, and the result is a highly evocative work despite—or rather because of—its powerful simplicity. With a streamlined process and a focus on the performative aspect, the artist has extracted all substance from the action itself, no matter how devoid of sense the result may initially appear.

Folie/Culture has chosen to award the 2018 Prix Garde-fou to Nadia-Malika Essalik who has bravely chosen to cross the borders of our certitudes, both around our selves and our environment.

Our heartfelt congratulations!

This year’s jury was Delphine Hébert, Céline Marcotte, and Alain-Martin Richard.
Nadia-Malika Essalik’s installation was shown at ART-CORE, the exhibition of graduating Université Laval’s graduating BFA students, from May 17 to 27, 2018, at the University’s art school, Édifice de la Fabrique, 270 Rue Charest, in Quebec City.