Sylvette Babin
Les éditions Esse Director
Each edition of the Vendu–Sold catalogue gives us a chance to share the magnificent works in the auction—and a few words on our most recent accomplishments. This year, I’d like to draw attention to new partnerships that are giving fresh impetus to our projects. To start with, thanks to the help of our honorary president, Nicolas Patard, our fundraising event has received generous assistance from the National Bank of Canada, which funded our catalogue. This valuable support enables us to reinvest the profits from the auction directly into the creation of content for the magazine and the web platform. We also have the pleasure of welcoming The Hnatyshyn Foundation as a new partner in Esse’s Young Critics Competition. This competition for Canadian students, which has been running for twenty-three years, will now include a more substantial bursary for all finalists.
The development of structural partnerships is in the DNA of Les éditions Esse. Over the years, numerous initiatives have been generated thanks to collaborations with our peers and with institutions devoted to the development and diffusion of the arts. Our digital residencies (produced with the support of Art Volt at Concordia University, Érudit, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Caisse Desjardins de la culture), which highlight content from all cultural magazines, are another good example. At a time when working together has become a guiding principle for sustainable development policies, it’s worth noting that most non-profit cultural organizations have long been using strategies for pooling knowledge, talents, and resources. Cultural NPOs are founts of cooperation and social solidarity that must be promoted and celebrated.
Also in a deeply touching spirit of solidarity, the participants in the Vendu–Sold auction—artists and gallery owners, members of the selection committee, the honorary president, volunteers, and various partners—are joining with Les éditions Esse to present our 17th edition. As you’ll see, the 2026 program is bursting with talent and, once again, replete with a diversity of practices and generations, which is a deliberate choice. The different aesthetic and conceptual approaches expressed in the works remind us that art is not only a marvellous portrait of society but also a manifestation of the identities, affects, and hopes of each artist who shapes it.
Don’t forget to come and see the works at the Fondation Guido Molinari before making your bids on the BYDealers website. These loyal allies, who have been with us for three and six years, respectively, are eloquent testimony to the lasting ties that we like to maintain with our partners. A wonderful community of spirit surrounds Esse. There’s no doubt that it forges our values and our identity. Thank you for being part of it.
Biographical note
Sylvette Babin is director of Les éditions Esse. She holds an MFA in studio arts from Concordia University and for many years has had a multidisciplinary art practice. She has published in various books and is particularly interested in contextual art forms staging the body or employing writing as an apparatus, as well as practices raising ethical and environmental issues.
Photo : © Alain Beauchesne