VIVA!
  ART
  ACTION

Initiated by Patrick Lacasse and Alexis Bellavance, VIVA! was founded in 2006 by six artist-run centres from Greater Montreal to support the production of events dedicated to the presentation and advancement of action art practices and knowledge.

The organisation’s energies are primarily focused on VIVA! Art Action, an international biennial. Currently the fruit of a partnership with nine artist-centred organisations, the festival provides the public with an accessible and convivial context in which to encounter performance art in its most striking and avant-garde forms. Therefore, whether it’s presented in public space or at VIVA!’s pop-up headquarters (Les Ateliers Jean Brillant), the programming always connects a rich variety of forms, perspectives, and identities.

For the past decade, the VIVA! has brought artists together to provide them with a space for revitalization, learning and exchange. By providing artists with professional support adapted to the specific needs of the discipline, VIVA! opens itself up to performative practices that are sometimes difficult to frame within the visual arts: furtive actions, relational projects, durational works, happenings and infiltration projects. Uniquely accessible, specialized and lively, VIVA! generates unprecedented experiences for artists as well as for the public.