Nicolas Baier receives the Loto-Québec Coup de cœur du public (people's choice) award capping the BNLMTL 2014, L'avenir (looking forward) exhibition at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal

MONTRÉAL, Dec. 18,  2014 /CNW Telbec/ - The Collection Loto-Québec, main presenter of the exhibition titled L'avenir (looking forward) at the 2014 edition of La Biennale de Montréal (BNLMTL 2014) awards the Loto-Québec Coup de cœur du public $10,000 prize to artist Nicolas Baier.

The Collection's partnership agreement with the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) includes a program reserved for Québec's emerging artists that lets the public have its say. Visitors had until Sunday, December 7, to vote for their favourite work of art, and the majority chose the Eternity sculpture by Nicolas Baier as the people's choice at the BNLMTL 2014.

Born in 1967 in Montréal, where he continues to live and work, Nicolas Baier studied at Université de Montréal, Université du Québec à Montréal and Concordia University. His work titled Eternity is an imposing mirror-finish stainless steel sculpture that rises to more than three metres in height and extends to over seven metres in length. It's a permanent and unassailable reflective wall that hides a message in plain view of visitors: the word "eternity."

"This $10,000 prize is a great match for the main goal of our partnership with the Musée, which is to support Québec's contemporary arts scene. On behalf of La Biennale's visiting public, we are very pleased to award this prize to an artist who is already recognized in Canada and abroad, and whose artistic process incorporates sculpture, fittings and collages inspired by astrophysics," stated Collection Loto-Québec Curator Louis Pelletier.

"I am truly moved to learn that the visitors to La Biennale appreciated my work, and am very thankful to them. My works are incomplete until they find meaning through contact and dialog with people. All works of art are mirrors, but there is nothing to reflect in empty galleries and deserted museums," commented Nicolas Baier upon learning that he was the recipient of the award.

The partnership

The Collection Loto-Québec is the principal partner of the MAC and official presenter of  the 2014 edition of La Biennale de Montréal (BNLMTL 2014). The L'avenir (looking forward) exhibition, which ends on January 4, 2015, is a natural fit for the program celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the foundation of the MAC. The agreement, which brings together the MAC and Loto-Québec, also enables visitors to discover recent works acquired by the Collection Loto-Québec, which are on display in the new Collection Loto-Québec room on a rotating basis, in cooperation with the Musée.

About the Collection Loto-Québec
The Collection Loto-Québec boasts over 4,700 works produced by more than 1,200 local artists. The Collection represents an important link in Quebec's artistic heritage, fulfilling its mission by fostering the distribution of the works it holds in travelling exhibitions throughout the province and now, at the key venue that is the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal.

SOURCE: Collection Loto-Québec

Marilyne Desrochers, Press Relations, Collection Loto-Québec, 514-499-7114, cell. 514-235-0593, [email protected]