Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present the launch of Call Ampersand Response, a Michael Dumontier and Micah Lexier collaboration. The event is free. Everyone is welcome.

Call Ampersand Response is a collaborative artwork made of images exchanged via email. Over a period of several months, Michael Dumontier and Micah Lexier sustained an image-based correspondence by sending each other scans of book covers, found objects, drawings and illustrations belonging to each artist’s respective collection. The project is based on the idea that their collections speak of their shared artistic affinities while informing their practices. Two rules dictated their conduct: each image was to function as a “call” seeking a “response” from the other artist, and the dialogue was to end when an image recalling the project’s opening image emerged, thereby constituting a narrative loop. Their conversation gave rise to a bookwork co-edited by Nieves and Artext(e).

Call Ampersand Response
196 pp. (including covers), 196 b&w illus., 25.5 x 19.5 cm.

As a special offer at this launch, the book will be on sale for $20. Following the launch, the book will be sold at the Plug In ICA Art Book Shop for $40.

Michael Dumontier (b. 1974) is a Winnipeg-based artist who works primarily in drawing and collage. He is a founding member of The Royal Art Lodge (1997–2008), and has exhibited throughout Canada and internationally. His distinct, minimalist style often features visual puns and references from how-to manuals and vintage children’s educational books, accompanied by witty, melancholic text. Beyond his individual practice, Dumontier has worked collaboratively with fellow Royal Art Lodge member Neil Farber with whom he has held weekly drawing sessions for over fifteen years, and with Micah Lexier. He is represented in Toronto by MKG127 and by Paul + Wendy Projects, and in Montreal by Galerie Division.

Micah Lexier (b. 1960) is a Toronto-based conceptual artist and curator. His work embraces notions of identity and its representation through a variety of media including sculpture, photography, drawing, printmaking and installation works. Lexier’s work has been shown at a number of institutions, including Printed Matter (2007), the National Gallery of Canada Library (2004), the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (1998), and the Art Gallery of Ontario (1993), among others. He is represented in Toronto by Birch Libralato, in Calgary by TrépanierBaer, and in Berlin by Gitte Weise Galerie.

The artists will be in attendance, along with Artext(e) Director Sylvie Gilbert.

Plug In ICA’s Summer Institute is generously supported by RBC Emerging Artist Project and a grant from the Winnipeg Foundation and Francofonds.