CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ANNOUNCES THEME: "OPEN CULTURE"

Claude Gosselin, Executive and Artistic Director of the Centre international d'art contemporain de Montréal (CIAC), is delighted to announce the appointment of Scott Burnham (Montréal/London) as Creative Director of La Biennale de Montréal 2009. The Biennale will take place throughout Montréal during May 2009 as a collaborative redefinition of a biennial, working within Burnham's theme for 2009: "Open Culture". As Scott Burnham explains:

"We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in our relationship to art and culture. In the same way that the Open Source software movement has driven technological innovation, the tools and philosophies at the heart of remix and mashup culture, Creative Commons licensing, the Free Culture movement, and the drive for open access and contribution to creative, scientific and educational intellectual property is transforming culture itself. The line between audience and artist is blurring to the point of invisibility – in its place is a democratisation of the creative process and the demystification of the artist as shaman. The 2009 Biennale de Montréal: Open Culture will be the international focal point for the exploration of this shift in culture."