19th edition: In Praise of the Missing Image

MOMENTA Biennale d’art contemporain is pleased to announce the complete list of participating artists and exhibition partners for its 19th edition, which will open September 10, 2025.

In Praise of the Missing Image, developed by guest curator Marie-Ann Yemsi, explores contemporary issues around images and the consequences of the complex dynamics that shape their narratives. Her observation is unequivocal: “In a world saturated with images, some, strangely, are lacking.” This edition of MOMENTA presents these absences in a historical perspective by examining their current significance and scope. The Biennale’s exhibitions, publication, and public programs will all be centred around this theme. Conceived as a gathering that will draw its strength from the active co-presence of many, the 2025 edition will open spaces for dialogue, hospitality, and the expression of struggles and solidarities wherein decolonial and feminist pedagogies and ancestral knowledge intersect. The narratives and gestures employed by these artists will evoke the vital necessity of bringing together diverse voices and stories, and will underline the transformative and healing experience of choosing consonant words and forms to speak of oneself. 

Presented in 11 exhibition spaces across the city, the Biennale’s programming will form a dialogue among the work of 23 Canadian and international artists, representing 14 countries, 4 provinces, and 5 Indigenous communities. From one exhibition to the next, artists will explore hybridization, fluidity, and fugitivity to create emancipatory images that reveal marginalized or erased narratives.

“Through the unruly material of art, In Praise of the Missing Image invites us to imagine collectively the means, political and poetic, by which we may inhabit the impasses of the present and sketch out ways toward the future.” —Marie-Ann Yemsi, guest curator

–Centre CLARK: Myriam Omar Awadi (Comoros and France), OK Pedersen (United States and Canada)
–daphne: Martin Akwiranoron Loft (Kahnawà:ke) 
–Dazibao: Na Mira (United States), Anouk Verviers (Canada and United Kingdom)
–Fonderie Darling: Mallory Lowe Mpoka (Canada, Cameroon, and Belgium), Paula Valero Comín (Spain and France)
–Galerie de l’UQAM: Raphaël Barontini (France and Guadeloupe), Gabrielle Goliath (South Africa), Caroline Mauxion (Canada and France)
–Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery: Raven Chacon (Navajo Nation and United States)
–Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal: Iván Argote (Colombia), Omar Victor Diop (Senegal) + Lee Shulman (United Kingdom), Maureen Gruben (Inuvialuk), Joyce Joumaa (Lebanon and Canada), Niap (Inuk), Sanaz Sohrabi (Iran)
–Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: Anique Jordan (Canada)
–OPTICA: Paul Seesequasis (Canada), Lou Sheppard (Canada)
–PHI: Josèfa Ntjam (France)
–VOX, centre de l’image contemporaine: Frida Orupabo (Norway)

Governmental and institutional partners
Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts de Montréal, Gouvernement du Québec, Government of Canada, Ville de Montréal, Tourisme Montréal, Institut français, Acción Cultural Española, Partners in Art, Office for Contemporary Art Norway, Catapulta | A Launchpad for Contemporary Spanish Art.

About MOMENTA
MOMENTA Biennale d’art contemporain is a flagship Montreal event that, every two years, invites artists and audiences to gather in the city’s museums, galleries, and artist-run centres. For 35 years, it has produced exhibitions, public events, and educational workshops that introduce participants to local and international artists whose works pique curiosity and stimulate reflection. 

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