Programming
Esly Zavarce and Denise A. Olivares
Echoes of Burgundy: Exploring Urban Presence Through Multisensory Archives
The duo of Elsy Zavarce and Denise A. Olivares, who were in residence for an independent research project during the 2025–2026 programming year, will present the results of their work at La HALTE in late May.
Through walking, listening, and collaborative practices in Little Burgundy, the collective, comprised of Elsy Zavarce and Denise A. Olivares, weaves together image, artistic devices, performative gestures, and sound. Inspired by the works of Salima Punjani, Caroline Gagné, and Steve Giasson, the installation invites the public to experience the city through embodied and affective engagement.
Rather than preserving, this living archive is activated through participation, revealing layered histories of migration, identity, and shared experience. An invitation to feel, remember, and reimagine urban space.
📍 Location: La HALTE (Sainte-Cunégonde Park, Montreal)
🗓️ Exhibition open: May 21–24 and May 28–29, 2026, from noon to 6 p.m.
Denise A. Olivares et Elsy Zavarce
Elsy Zavarce and Denise A. Olivares form an artist-researcher collective whose practice bridges socially engaged art, memory, and materiality. Both trained in Art Education at Concordia University, they bring distinct but complementary approaches that converge in collaborative, community-centred projects.
Zavarce, born in Canada and raised in Venezuela, is an interdisciplinary artist and emeritus professor at the University of Zulia. Her work is rooted in Socially Engaged Art (SEA), activating public spaces through dialogical encounters, performative gestures, and collective storytelling. Olivares, a Chilean-born artist and educator, works with textile installation, photography, and archives to explore how materiality and touch preserve lived experience, particularly around migration and displacement. Together, they create spaces for dialogue and reflection, weaving connections between personal histories, collective memory, and urban identity.