''Parachute - revue d'art contemporain'' was a bilingual French and English contemporary art magazine. It was published quarterly in October, January and April. One issue each year was dedicated to an emerging

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

for contemporary art. ''Parachute'' was concerned primarily with the

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

and

museology Museology (also called museum studies or museum science) is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and ed ...

. The magazine occasionally devoted articles to other art forms when they transcended their conventional boundaries and provoked theoretical debates. The last issue, No.125, appeared in 2009 when decreasing funding levels made it impossible to continue operation. ''Parachute'' was founded by René Blouin and

Chantal Pontbriand Chantal Pontbriand (born 1951) is a Canadian curator and art critic whose work explores globalization and artistic heterogeneity. She has curated international contemporary art events: exhibitions, international festivals and international confer ...

, who met at Véhicule, one of the first artist-run centres in Canada, (together with A Space and the Western Front) and the Research Group in Arts Administration. Pontbriand was writing for '' Artscanada'' and '' Vie des Arts'' :fr:Vie des arts, the only two art magazines in Canada at that time. Funding for the first issue was provided by Véhicule. Blouin was replaced by France Morin. Initially, funding was provided by the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

and the Ministry of Culture of Quebec, before the Quebec Arts Council was formed, lastly the

City of Montreal Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

, which has its own arts council, provided funding.

First fifteen years

Early issues were printed in black and white, letter-sized. The first issue contained an article by Irwin and Myrna Gopnik about John Heward. The fourth issue was published in collaboration with

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( ; ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and Aesthetics, art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, , Caroline Tisdall, Rober ...

. The board consisted of Melvin Charney, Robert Graham, and Raymond Gervais. Anne Ramsden served as an associate editor for ''Parachute'' magazine from 1980 to 1982.

2000s

A new, smaller book format was introduced in 2000. Until then, ''Parachute'' had been published in black and white and in a large, staple bound magazine format 22.5 x 30.5 cm. A number of thematic issues weer published, three in "community", and others on "resistance," "democracy," "violence," and "economies". ''Parachute'' also concerned itself with emerging art centres. The first “City” issue was

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

with Cuauhtémoc Medina as guest editor, then

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

(2002),

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, and

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Documenta 12 magazines ''Documenta 12 magazines'' (also ''the Magazine project'' or simply ''the magazines'') was a central project of the 12th edition (2007) of the documenta exhibition, similar in dimensions and world outreach to the "platforms" of the previous edi ...

, a project of the 12th edition (2007) of the

documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

exhibition. The magazine was supported by the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...

and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec Increased postal rates in 2000 contributed to the financial difficulties, as did quotas for local content (increased scrutiny by funding organizations into how much local content was in the magazine versus foreign content). The board of directors consisted of Jean-Pierre Grémy (chairman), Chantal Pontbriand (president), Colette Tougas (treasurer), Mary Ann Ferguson, Paul Fraser, Robert Hackett, Johanne Lamoureux and Réjean Legault.

Publications

References

{{Canadian art Defunct contemporary art magazines Magazines established in 1975 Magazines disestablished in 2009 Defunct magazines published in Montreal Quarterly magazines published in Canada Defunct visual arts magazines published in Canada Defunct bilingual magazines French-language magazines published in Canada English-French bilingual magazines Defunct French-language magazines