Week 34: October 13th
Cameraless photography, the return of Espace Maurice, Literary Oktoberfest, and more.
Welcome to Community Service, a biweekly newsletter featuring a curated selection of art and design events in Montreal. The list this week is loaded with publication launches, alternative exhibition spaces (my fave), and art as nightlife events. A paid subscription will get you an interactive map and integrative calendar in addition to the list. The rest of the list remains free, featuring events happening in Montreal at the end of October.
Vernissage: Artch Festival
October 14th (6pm) - 1 PVM
As the sustainability of artistic practices becomes increasingly urgent, cooperation and community are more important than ever. This year’s theme explores how artists can organize, collaborate, and coexist—not only with each other, but beyond the traditional boundaries of the art world. How can artists maintain meaningful connections despite competition and division? How can they develop new ways of working together?
The 8th edition of the artch emerging arts festival will take place from October 15th to 19th.
Vernissage: Saudade by Maiko Rodrig
October 16th (6-9pm) - 9797 Tolhurst
Curated by Alexandre OR Boucher, Saudade is the first solo exhibition by artist and photographer Maiko Rodrig. Working with light, chemistry, and time in the darkroom, Maiko creates both figurative and abstract images that explore memory, longing, and his enduring connection to Brazil.
Publication Launch: SQUID Issue 02
October 17th (6:30-9pm) - Cafe Bloom
My favourite cafe south of the canal <3 SQUID Literary and arts magazine launches their second issue with an evening of readings and live music celebrating the work of local creatives. Free entry, Le Cafe Bloom will serve food and drinks.
Event: Rise by Concordia Art Collective
October 17th (8-11:30pm) - Collectif MTL
The Concordia Art Collective is hosting a celebration of the arts, bringing live music and painting together. Guests are invited to experience creation as it happens, with drinks in hand and community at the heart of it all. The night celebrates expression, connection, and the collective spirit of art. Tickets are available through this link.
Vernissage: Big Sleep
October 18th (12-2pm) - Mai/son
Big Sleep is a group exhibition held at Mai/son as part of Expo 88. More details to come !!
Exhibition: Expo Miroir
October 18th (5pm-11pm) - Union Française
Expo Miroir is at once an exhibition, a performance and a dialogue. 16 artists share their relationships to themselves, to each other and to the world through their artworks and their voices. Through the evening, the public will be encouraged to share their thoughts, feelings and experiment with interactive artworks and performances. After dark, the event transforms into a unique rave experience for those who are so keen.
Vernissage: Wind Shake
October 18th (6-9pm) - Espace Maurice
Espace Maurice is back! Wind Shake is an exhibition presenting new works by Timothé Born and Les Ramsay, alongside a painting by Maurice Brault, the eponymous artist after whom the gallery is named.
Borrowing its title from a natural defect in wood caused by shock or strain, Wind Shake refers to a hidden fracture across the grain, a fault that weakens timber and is often revealed only through the act of planing.
Wind Shake revisits this image as a metaphor for memory: the tremor of something once felt, or the trace of a place one has never been in, dwelling in the fragmentary nature of recollection where small details, textures, and gestures become anchors to the past, exposing the fragile seams between remembering and remaking.
Publication Launch: Pastiche
October 23rd (7pm) - Mai/son
Pastiche is setting up at Mai/son on October 23rd for an evening of readings, music, and conversation. Their two latest published stories, “Peking Duck” by Aazer Siddiqui and “Châtiment Étrusque” by Dexter Palmer, will be distributed throughout the evening. The event is byob and the address will be sent to ticket holders. You can purchase tickets through this link.
Event: Literary Oktoberfest
October 24th (7-11pm) - L’Ambroisie et L’Espace Canal
Yolk Literary’s third edition of their Literary Oktoberfest is back! This publishing industry event is designed to foster the literary ecosystem in Montreal and create connections elsewhere in Canada. It’s an evening where writers, publishers, literary journals, agents, and support organizations meet and discover one another.
The event will also feature readings from Tara McGowan-Ross and Christopher DiRaddo, and talks from industry experts Pamela Mulloy (The New Quarterly), Paige Sisley (CookeMcDermid), and Mikhail Iossel (Concordia University, Maasai Land Writers’ Retreat).
Tickets are available through this link.
If you have an art or design-related event you would like to include in future editions of the newsletter, you can fill out this form or send us an email at communityservmag@gmail.com
Submissions for events happening between October 27th and November 9th are due no later than October 24th. Please note that we are now charging $25 for late submissions.
For those of you that are paying for a Community Service Mag subscription, stick around for your extra goodies, for those that are not, I’ll see you around.