In 1993, driven by their shared desire to disseminate their work in a context of production, the artists of the studio L'Oreille coupée founded Le Lobe. Back then, the space was sectioned off within the 200 square-foot workspace shared by the artists Marie-Josée Beaubien, Édith Bergeron, Carl Bouchard, Claudine Cotton, Patrice Duchesne, Madeleine Doré and Gérald Ouellet. For the first five years of its existence, Le Lobe was entirely managed and supported by the studio’s artists.

Inviting as it was, Le Lobe quickly became known for its welcoming atmosphere and the singularity of the projects featured there. Its location was within a creative studio made it a unique place for the exchange of new ideas, where risk and innovation were welcomed and encouraged. These founding values are still at the core of today’s Le Lobe. In 1997, Le Lobe moved to a larger locale but it still lives within a dynamic creative space. It now shares a space with the artist studios Ateliers d’artistes TouTTouT, an artist-run initiative that includes a dozen studios, over twenty-five artists, a handful of cultural workers and two multidisciplinary professional organizations. In addition, in January, 2010, Le Lobe underwent a light translation, allowing it to move into quite new premises with an independent entry, neighboring office and a gallery twice as big.

From the beginning, programming at Le Lobe has been consistently notable for the quality and generosity of its guest artists from every contemporary discipline. These artists include: BGL (Quebec City, interventionist installation), Jean-Pierre Gauthier (Montreal, installation), Dominic Gagnon (Montreal, audio/video performance), Nathalie Derome (Montreal, performance, spoken word), Julie Doucet (Montreal, comic and artist books), Geneviève Crépeau and Matthieu Dumont (Rouyn-Noranda, installation, song, performance), Julie Andrée T (Montreal, performance, installation sound), Olivier Choinière (Montreal, theatre), Marc Dulude (Montreal, installation), Martin Bureau (Ile d’Orleans, painting and video), Karen Spencer (Montreal, performance)…

Le Lobe received its first grant after 6 years of professional existence, which covered exhibition rights for artists. Funding for Le Lobe’s administration has been supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec since 1999. In 2004-2005, following an evaluation of all artist-run centres, Lobe is proud to have received high honours for the quality of its administration as well as its programming; as a result, it was granted an increase in its grant from the CALQ to bring it’s funding up to standard. The same year, Lobe was admitted to multi-year programming. In 2006-2007, Le Lobe received its first grant of $ 5000 from the newly formed Conseil des arts de Saguenay. The following year, the same grant was increased by $3000 for its investment in the development of the centre’s visibility and that of its artists.

Le Lobe has been a member of the Regroupement des centres d'artistes autogérés du Québec since 1996, and is one of the few such centres exclusively committed to the dissemination of projects created in residency there. This specific orientation is completely natural to centre, stemming from its origins, and is perfectly coherent with its environment and its geographical location. In fact, the centre’s location contributes largely to its uniqueness: sufficiently far away to guarantee the distance necessary for true research projects. At the same time, Le Lobe is located in Saguenay, a region known for its cultural dynamism, and shares a space with the artist studios Ateliers d’artistes TouTTouT, and as a result it is completely immersed in the energy of a multidisciplinary environment that favours real exchange.

Above all, the, Le Lobe has always perceived artists and their work as creators of meaning and critical thought. The centre has always preferred innovative practices that raise questions about the place of art and the ways it is presented. Not only does the centre propose, support and promote artistic projects developed in residency, but also its present mandate is to actively participate in the evolution of the very practice of residency. It necessarily involves a constant requestioning, it is by definition, an enterprise that evolves and takes risks, which allows the artists to push their ideas further. Le Lobe’s sensitivity to the demands of residency practice has necessitated that it too works within these same parameters to fulfil its mandate.

So in order to respond to artist practices as they evolve, Le Lobe is now offering mid-career artists the chance to take a step back from their practice, to re-examine it, disrupt it and even take it in a new direction. In this context, risky projects and counter plans are not only possible?they’re downright necessary. This is a major aspect of our programming, which is complemented by an invitation-only senior annual artist residency. For emerging artists, Le Lobe has been offering a 3-month summer residency since 2006, which gives the artist the time and space to develop a more ambitious project, as well as the PLATE-FORME space. Inaugurated in 2008, indoors and out of doors, this space situated in the hall of the Ateliers TOUTTOUT is reserved for Le Lobe members.

Le Lobe’s regular calendar events include the art festival Fête de l’Art, evening conferences and LobeScène events, as well as events that are not formally scheduled but rather which are the result of spontaneous collaborations between artists or artist-run-centres. In 2007, Le Lobe presented Art Nomade, (Nomadic Art), an international performance festival organized and curated by Francis O’Shaughnessy, as well as ImproVidéo (video), initiated and curated by Jean-Marc Roy. Finally, the special project for radio Du Lobe invites artists from the regular residency program to explore radio as a medium and a new space for the dissemination of art.

Le Lobe is administered by conscientious and passionate founding members, experienced artists and counts, since 2006, on the dynamism of young administrators.