Bettina Hoffmann composes everyday
scenes to explore how still photographs
and cinematography create and communicate
space, characters and narrative.
In the two-channel video projection
Émile (2008), only the video camera
moves: it slowly revolves around
children and teenagers, who remain
completely still, fixed like sculptures or
subjects in a snapshot.

The title, Émile, refers to philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s controversial
1762 treatise on human
nature, education and the relationship
between individuals and society.
Hoffmann suggests parallels between
the emergence of democracy, photography
and film, and burgeoning adulthood.
In the work, details come into
view – of furniture, bodies, gestures
and expressions – but it is impossible
to grasp the whole scene. From these
fragments, potent moments of adolescence
and its turbulence emerge.

Born in Berlin, Hoffmann is currently
based in Montreal. She has exhibited
her work nationally and internationally,
most recently at the Québec
Triennial 2008, organized by the
Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal,
and at the Museum of Contemporary
Photography, Chicago. Émile will be on
view in the Young Gallery, adjacent to
the AGO’s restaurant, Frank. Admission
is free.
Curated by Sophie Hackett.

Also on view at the AGO is
Connecting with Photography: Ongoing
Dialogues, selections from the permanent
photography collection, in the
Betty Ann & Fraser Elliott Gallery.

Contemporary programming at the AGO is supported
by The Canada Council for the Arts