Photography's monumentality derives not so much from the sometimes exceptional nature of the events depicted as it does from the immeasurable volume of pictures that have been taken and reproduced since the 19th century. The constant sedimentation of images forms a thick photographic bedrock into which Melvin Charney cuts. For more than thirty years, Charney has been compiling newspaper pages bearing photographs in which architecture comes into contact with current events. This compilation of images gives rise to an imposing cartography of news events, one that is inseparable, moreover, from a meditation on architecture and time.

Born in Montreal, Quebec. Lives and works in Montreal, New York and Paris. Internationally acclaimed artist Melvin Charney has created a unique body of work characterized by a preoccupation with urban space. He is best known for photographic works like UN DICTIONNAIRE... and for a series of large-scale installations, including the Canadian Centre for Architecture sculpture garden in Montreal (1987-1991). Charney's works has been often exhibited and are in the collections of many museums. He has represented Canada twice at the Venice Biennale. Recently, his work was featured in an exhibition at the Centre national de la photographie, Paris. Notable among numerous publications on his work is a recent monograph published by the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, which examines the essential role of photography in his work.