Alain-Martin Richard is a performer, artist, editor and critic who has been working in theatre, literature and performance since the late seventies. He was a member of the now defunct international group The Nomads, a collective that has shown work at events such as Documenta 8 (Kassel, Germany) and as part of the Olympic Games (Calgary, Canada, 1988).
(1) Richard has organized several exhibitions within Quebec, has toured Europe, Japan and North America, and has co-authored many publications. Along with his partner, Martin Mainguy, he is a member of the collective
Les causes perdues in©, a group dedicated to exploring the possibilities of contemporary poetry.
Richard began his career as an author, translator and essayist. He has published many critical essays on art and performance in the journals
INTER (formerly
Intervention ),
La Tournée ,
Possibles ,
Alternatives and
Propos d'art. From 1983 to 1990, he served as an active member of
INTER's editorial board. In collaboration with Clive Robertson, he co-authored the book
Performance in Canada 1970-1990 (2). In addition to writing many articles and symposium papers, he edited the book
Territoires nomades,
(3) which was published in 1995 and launched in Montreal.
Richard is also known for his performance art. His work has been presented at numerous venues around the world including Franklin Furnace, Konsthall de Malmö (Sweden), SAW Gallery (Ottawa, Canada) and the Western Front. In collaboration with les Éditions Intervention, he organized several performance-related events in Canada including Le
Marathon d'écriture (1983),
NeoSon(g) Cabaret (1984) and
Immedia Concerto (1988)
(4). In 1991, the Musée du Québec invited him to curate the event
Au contraire, la performance, and in 1997 he curated the
3e Symposium en arts visuels de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue in Amos, Quebec. As a member of yet another collective, called Inter/Le Lieu, he toured several cities in Europe and Japan from 1984 to 1998.