À pied d’œuvre—Art at Play

Manif d’art presents Jardin d’hiver 2027: À pied d’œuvre—Art at Play, curated by art historian, author and commentator Florence-Agathe Dubé-Moreau. Taking place across Québec City from February 26 to March 28, 2027, the exhibition brings contemporary art and sport into dialogue through movement, performance, play and collective experience.

Developed in cultural collaboration with the 2027 Canada Games, held in Québec City from February 27 to March 14, the exhibition considers sport beyond physical achievement. Gestures, emotions, disciplines, equipment, uniforms, playing fields, rules, spectators and rituals become material for artists to explore and reinterpret. Sport emerges as a social and cultural phenomenon capable of bringing communities together while revealing broader questions of identity, equity, inclusion and power.

“Artistic production, like athletic performance, generates meaning, individualities and communities that contribute to reshaping the world around us. The mirror held up by artists and athletes reflects what we value as a community,” says Dubé-Moreau. “What do sports say about us? Through the approaches and languages of art, how can sport inspire new ways of telling our story as a society? Of imagining, together, a different future?”

Through outdoor installations, indoor exhibitions and participatory projects, À pied d’œuvre—Art at Play will unfold across sports venues, cultural spaces and urban sites throughout Québec City. The exhibition brings together artistic practices that engage with sport through perspectives related to identity, feminism, the environment, queer experience, decolonization and politics, exploring how art and sport can rewrite social histories and generate new collective imaginaries.

The project builds on Jardin d’hiver’s distinctive approach to contemporary art: accessible, rooted in public space and conceived as an invitation to discovery. Large-scale works and artistic routes will temporarily transform familiar sites, encouraging audiences to encounter both contemporary art and the city from new perspectives.

Florence-Agathe Dubé-Moreau works at the intersection of visual art, sport and popular culture, with a particular interest in equity and inclusion. She served as assistant curator for the Canadian delegation at the 56th Venice Biennale and co-curated Françoise Sullivan: “Je laissais les rythmes affluer” at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. She is the author of Hors jeu : chronique culturelle et féministe sur l’industrie du sport professionnel, recipient of a Governor General’s Literary Award, and co-chair of the Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Foundation.

Produced by Manif d’art, Jardin d’hiver is a contemporary art event presented in Québec City in alternating years with the Québec City Biennial. Through exhibitions, public artworks and cultural mediation, it creates accessible encounters between contemporary artistic practices, audiences and the urban environment.

The participating artists, venues and full public program for Jardin d’hiver 2027 will be announced in the coming months.