The Day I Tried Dreaming

La Centrale galerie Powerhouse is already celebrating its 50th anniversary. Fifty years, spent morphing and moving through evolving feminisms and the social issues that have shaped its mandate. Eager to renew with our grassroots origins and to redefine what a socially committed artist-run centre looks like, the centre hosted last May the symposium How to protect a radical idea?. This  three weeks-long series of events welcomed the reflections, movements and voices of more than twenty-five artists, curators, cultural workers, and poets. In collaborating with Esse, we wish for these events to last beyond the gallery walls. This partnership emerged from a shared belief in Esse’s commitment to amplifying the voices of artists and cultural workers from diverse communities, and in its capacity to cultivate a vibrant, critical discursive space.

I am writing this text on the day the United States attacks Iran. I procrastinate on Instagram and come across an article published in L’Humanité: “In Israel, racism deprives Palestinians from access to anti-missile shelters.” On the same day, I also learn about the organizing of “La Saint-Jean de la race” in Québec City. Today, June 22, it’s sunny and very hot, 29 degrees Celsius in Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal. It sounds normal, right? Tomorrow, it will be 38 degrees Celsius, which seems more alarming to me.