Marie Chouinard

Marie Chouinard came to public attention as early as 1978, with her solo Cristallisation. Dubbed “the enfant terrible of dance,” she has appeared in major festivals, and her works have notably been presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2013), the Musée de l’Orangerie (Paris, 2022 and 2025) and the Staatsgalerie (Stuttgart, Germany, 2025), earning her the commission in 2016 from the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center in the Netherlands to mark the 500th anniversary of the Dutch painter’s death.

Although choreographers have been entering European and American museums for more than a decade, no Canadian visual arts institution has yet taken on the challenge of presenting dance through daily live performance. With BECOMING BREATH, the MMFA embraces this first-of-its-kind exhibition by centring its reflection on how bodies—dancing, moving and represented—share the same space within the museum.

Breath, voice, body, movement, emotion

The themes guiding the selection of Marie Chouinard's works also serve as creative engines for the artist: breath, voice, body, movement and emotion. BECOMING BREATH highlights Chouinard’s reinterpretation of the choreography L’après-midi d’un faune (1987), as well as JARDIN DE SCULPTURES ÉPHÉMÈRES (2020), broadcast via videoconference during the pandemic and presented before a live audience for the first time at the MMFA. The exhibition also includes IN MUSEUM (2012), in which a dancer responds through movement to a secret shared by a member of the audience. Also featured on the visit are multimedia installations, choreographic drawings, sculptures, photographs, a virtual reality experience and a timeline tracing the full scope of Chouinard's career.

Dialogue between the arts

Greek vases and an Egyptian bas-relief from the MMFA collection are placed in dialogue with L’après-midi d’un faune, a reinterpretation of a ballet conceived by Vaslav Nijinsky in 1912, following his visit to the Musée du Louvre. Stepping into the principal dancer’s shoes in 1987, Chouinard heightened the flattened effect characteristic of the original ballet’s aesthetic, which had caused a scandal at its premiere.

The exhibition also features another artistic dialogue: the one forged with poet and painter Henri Michaux (1899–1984). In 1980, Chouinard discovered his book Mouvements (1951); his India ink drawings became the choreographic score for HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS (2011). A selection of previously unpublished drawings by Michaux is presented here alongside excerpts from the video of the piece. This ensemble is joined by Chouinard’s own choreographic drawings used as notational scores for the solo Gloire du matin (2009). Placed side by side, these two series of drawings reveal distinct visual languages, each expressing movement differently.

A shared history with the Museum

Marie Chouinard is no stranger to the MMFA, which has hosted her on multiple occasions through events and exhibitions. By having performers and audiences share “the stage,” BECOMING BREATH reminds us that the experience of a work of art is not solely intellectual, but also something we embody.

Through this exhibition that engages all the senses and involves movement, posture and displacement, Chouinard ultimately invites us to reconnect with our bodies—and our emotions.