Born in Canada
Lives and works in Canada
Is public space genuinely public, that is, open to everyone in the same way? Do we relate differently to different public spaces? Do we feel that we belong in particular spaces, or that we’re somehow excluded? Jean-François Prost uses his work – which combines architecture, perfomances and installations – to explore questions of how we use and relate to public space. His new piece for Liverpool will present us with a mystery, a teasing set of puzzles appearing on surfaces around the city. Making use of the language of advertising and the technology of the internet, Prost will seek to draw us into a public debate about the nature and value of public space.
The installation is now closed, but you can visit the Liverpool Biennial project website: www.liverpool08.cc
Selected Solo and Collaborative Exhibitions and Events
2007 research on current urban transformations, Miami, FL, USA
2006 Imperceptible Spaces, Axe-Néo7, Gatineau, Canada
E S R O, Espace Virtuel Gallery, Chicoutimi, Canada
2005 Buenos Aires residency part 2, from November 2005 to February 2006
Manif d’art 3, Quebec, Canada
2004 Nogoland, Galérie Verticale, Laval, Canada; Point-Zero-sur-le-Lac, Blainville, Canada
Prospectus, CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture), Montreal, Canada, extra-muros project
Residency at the Recoleta Cultural Centre, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Uninvited Guests, Latitude 55 Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
2003 Uninvited Guests, Saw Gallery, Ottawa, Canada; Stride Gallery, Calgary, Canada, Mountain Time Art Festival
2002 Roof-Dwelling (Co-habitations hors champ), Optica Contemporary Art Centre, Montreal, Canada
Inflexion in the Generic City, 3e impérial, Granby, Canada, Supra-Rural Residency Program
2001 Hypothèses d’amarrages (Mooring Hypothesis), (Syn-), Les commensaux, Skol Gallery, Montreal, Canada; a constellation of 20 tables in residential areas
2000 Convivialités électives, LOBE Gallery, Chicoutimi, Canada
Selected Group Exhibitions and Events
2006 Public Acts 1–29, Connect, Montreal, Canada
2004 C’est ma Place, Monopoly Gallery, Montreal, Canada
2003 1st International Architecture Biennial of Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2002 La demeure, Optica, Montreal, Canada
3rd Montreal Biennial, Montreal, Canada
2000 Nulle Part/Ailleurs, Dare-Dare Art Centre, Montreal, Canada
Collaborations
2001 Syn- urban exploration workshop (founding member)
2000 DARE-DARE, Centre de diffusion d’art multidisciplinaire (board member)
Further Reading
CIAC, les 20 ans du CIAC, Montreal: Centre d’art contemporain de Montréal (Montreal Biennials), 2004, p. 175, www.ciac.ca/biennale2002/en/prost/htm
Sylvie Cotton, In an Artistic Clearing: Supra-Rural 2001–2002, Granby: 3e impérial, 2004, pp. 31–5,
www.3e-imperial.org/artistes/jfrancois_prost_C.htm
Louis Jacob, ‘Dans l’attente de vivre’, in Patrice Loubier and Anne-Marie Ninacs (eds.), Les commensaux: quand l’art se fait circonstances, Montreal: Skol, 2001, pp. 46–51, www.skol.qc.ca/publications/imprime/html
Louis Jacob, ‘Excursions in the Indoor City’, Parachute, (Montreal) 118 (04-05-06, 2005), pp. 86–103 (see also pp. 1, 3, 9, 20, 84–5), www.parachute.ca/public/+100/118.htm
Jean-François Prost, ‘Inflexion des usages, 60 stations dans la ville générique’, Etc, 60 (December 2002), pp. 13–17, www.dsuper.net/~etcmtl/page%201.htm
Syn-urban exploration workshop: http://www.amarrages.com/
public realm
