Rideau Hall, Tuesday, June 27, 2006

My husband Jean-Daniel Lafond and I are pleased to welcome you to Rideau Hall for the opening of the new art exhibition entitled Dialogues: the changing face of contemporary Canadian art.

What better way to breathe new life into this institution than to dedicate a special place to showcase Canada’s new and emerging artists? I can think of none.

The voice of today’s young people, the voice and point of view of artists, the ways in which they express themselves and find their place in the world are of the utmost importance to me and my husband.

Young people renew traditions as they honour them; they open our eyes to new realities, shaking up long‑held ideas and making us question what we have believed to be true. This is just the sort of questioning that the 18 works of art exhibited here today have awakened.

The artists being featured in this exhibition have chosen to explore the themes of home, environment and identity.

These themes in particular give us a window into the concerns of an entire generation wondering—at times with irony, at times with a hint of melancholy, but always with insight—just where it fits into a world whose boundaries are forever being pushed back, sometimes disappearing altogether, and what the future holds for our fragile ecosystems.

Through the wide array of materials and diversity of points of view, these works question us as well. Each in their own way, they invite us to join in a dialogue with them. And this more than anything else is how they reach us, how they speak to us beyond the walls upon which they will hang for a short time.

These works are not simply meant to bring a little colour and beauty into our lives. They are meant to help us understand better the world in which we live, to give expression to our fears and desires, to give back to our day‑to‑day lives that extra measure of harmony that we sometimes let fall by the wayside.

We would like to sincerely thank the Canada Council Art Bank for their invaluable help and wish everyone a most enjoyable visit!