Dazibao is a centre dedicated to the dissemination of contemporary image-based practices.
Dazibao promotes exchange between disciplines and multi-disciplinary artistic practices to enable the development of other ways of thinking about the image and to stimulate the opening of a new way of grasping reality. In a context where we speak increasingly about the image within a wider framework, one that now extends over several art practices, this approach allows us to discern important developments within the contemporary arts and to engage in a more profound and critical reflection.
Dazibao is committed to exhibiting a broad spectrum of work ranging from practices with a strong conceptual basis, to installations, to works that embrace the most recent technological advancements in the production and diffusion of images. The centre welcomes artists from Quebec, Canada and abroad. Dazibao serves as both a launching pad for young artists and as an ideal space for more established artists to initiate and present exhibitions with an experimental approach.
As a publisher, Dazibao posits the book as an alternate site for the dissemination and discussion of contemporary photographic practices, addressing the challenges posed by an image culture that is increasingly becoming the basis of our relation to reality. Dazibao has published approximately forty major publications, most of which fall into one of our five series: Des photographes, Les essais, Les études, Les portables and Monographie.
Since its inception in 1980, Dazibao has organised more than 400 events : exhibitions, performances, launches, readings, conferences, concerts, guided tours, meetings with the artists, and, more recently, numerous collaborations with artistic organisations from here and abroad. The centre acts as a link between artists, curators, theorists, authors, critics, the university and college communities, the artistic milieu and the general public. Dazibao is a site for exchange and research, a gallery, a publisher and an archival information centre.
