PESOT

About the organization

The mandate of the “Pesot” creative organization is to develop and support the visual arts at the administrative, structural and financial levels, as well as to help raise the profile of these arts nation-wide. A non-profit organization incorporated on September 12, 2013, “Pesot” has a five-member Board of Directors. Sébastien Pesot is the Executive and Artistic Director. The organization’s first project is entitled In a Post-World, a Post-Punk Event.

Our special position in the ecology of Canadian art—amidst artist-run centres, galleries, institutions and festivals—has resulted in a new avenue for the promotion of artists. Our business strategy is based on partnerships and outreach activities that draw non-specialized audiences to the world of art. Based in Sherbrooke, “Pesot” is an NPO incorporated under Part 3 of Quebec Companies Act. It operates in the Eastern Townships, Quebec and Canada.

The team

The artistic concerns of Sébastien Pesot go well beyond his own practice. His community involvement led to the founding of the Espace [im] Média festival in 2007, for which he devised the media arts programsfor each of the four editions.He also initiated and directed the five editions of the AlgoRythm(e)sevent, three in Montreal and two in Mexico. In 1997, he co-founded Perte de signal, a video presentation and distribution centre. Sébastien Pesot has sat on the Board of Directors of such organizations as PRIM, CQAMand Sporobole.

The organization’s Chairman of the Board, Gilles Prince, has worked in corporate communications for over thirty years. Over the last ten years or so, he has taken an interest in the socio-economic situation of artists and cultural organizations. He has been a board member of numerous artist-run centres and national and regional organizations (RCAAQ, Sporobole, 3e Impérial, Art Prim, CCE, etc.) devoted to developing professional artistic practices. He currently works as a consultant in communications and cultural-organization development, adopting a systematic approach to the problems inherent in these sectors.

Author and art critic Claire Moeder has been a columnist for the webzineratsdeville since 2010. She has also contributed to such publications as Les Espaces de l’image (Montreal: MPM, 2009) and Christian Marclay : SNAP ! (Dijon: Éditions les Presses du Réel, 2009). Holding a Master’s degree in art history and exhibitions (Rennes, 2008), Claire Moeder presented her research on the artist-curator at a conference at the Université de Montréal (2009) and in Marge magazine (Paris). In 2013, she was selected for the curator’s residency of the International Studio and Curatorial Programin Brooklyn, New York,awarded by CALQ.

The organization’s Treasurer, Matthieu Gauvin, is a self-taught enthusiast of the visual arts and literature. After working as an assistant manager at the Monument-National (1992-1999), he became a supervisor at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2000-2009). An active collector since 2004, he is particularly interested in art on paper and in emerging Quebec artists. In 2004, he founded the Société des Arts sur Papier(SAP) and has since produced over fifteen exhibitions. From 2006 to 2009, he was the Executive Director of the Contemporary Art Galleries Association (AGAC), during which time he organized the Papier contemporary art fair. Since 2011, he has worked as an acquisitions consultant for both private and corporate clients.

The Board’s Secretary, Cloé Berthiaume-Pouliot studied law in London before obtaining her Master’s degree in political science in France. In 2004, she began her career producing and organizing cultural events in France (Fête de la Musique, Annecy International Animated Film Festival, etc.). A resident of Quebec since 2006, she obtained a degree in Cultural Organization Management (DESS, HEC Montréal) before joining Just For Laughs and then Cirque du Soleil, where she has worked as an Artist Management Coordinator for some four years.

The coordinator of the Pesot creative organization’s first event, Dans un monde post: un événement post-punk, Aurélie Vandewynckele is a Montreal-based exhibition curator and art critic.She graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (2011) before obtaining a Master’s degree in museology from the Université du Québec à Montréal (2014). She has written for such journals as Exhibit and Esse and organized several cultural events in France, Mexico and Canada.