Quand la collection prédit l'avenir / Permanent exhibition

Exhibition of the collection

Download the exhibition brochure

While for many museums, the emergence of a collection is foundational to their development, for the MAC LAU, it has been instrumental to its transformation. Quand la collection prédit l'avenir reconsiders the nature of the MAC LAU’s collection, and the museum plans to use the exhibition to explore the directions it will take in the years to come. 

Architectural Representation of Museological Functions

The layout of the exhibition spaces has been reassessed so as to make visible the museum’s various functions, namely management, conservation, research, education, and dissemination. Therefore, the MAC LAU’s main exhibition room has been divided permanently into three spaces intended for temporary exhibitions (dissemination). A space dedicated to the Museum Outreach Lab directly and individually engages the public. In this space, the education department makes available print and digital tools as well as human resources to help visitors explore and understand the works and lives of artists (education/research). Set up next to the exhibition room, the Documentation Centre offers visitors the opportunity to consult reference materials specialized in contemporary art (education/research).

In addition, the public now has access to a significant part of the collection (12%) through an open storage set up in the exhibition space (conservation/dissemination). The MAC LAU thus illustrates the creation of its collection, each panel of the storage representing a page in its history, while also echoing the archives that chronicle the genealogy of the collection presented in the adjacent exhibition room.

The MAC LAU is also in the process of reassessing its collection management policy in collaboration with the arts development committee. Read more.

This permanent exhibition is a multi-year and multifaceted project. Presented in summer 2019, the first instalment set the groundwork of this reflection by taking shape through the reconfiguration of the exhibition spaces and a specific acquisition action. Two other instalments are planned for the 2020 and 2021 summer seasons.

This project is being carried out with the financial support of the Government of Quebec.

Please note that the open storage is not accessible during openings or when exhibitions are being installed.