Media arts program of the Francofest festival Cinéfranco
Artists: Madi Piller, Isabelle Michaud, Lucie Bedet, Marthe Lenoir, Shawn Grenier, Tchayé Briat
November 1 to 9, 2024 (Mon-Fri 11am-6pm Sat 11am-2pm)
At Le Labo – 401 Richmond – Studio 277
“Do well with nothing, do better with little, and do it now!”
The Kino International Filmmaking Movement is explained succinctly by this motto to make no-budget films in a spirit of mutual aid, non-competition, freedom and benevolence.
As the media arts program of the Francofest Cinéfranco festival, the video exhibition La Verticale aims to challenge the conventions of traditional cinema by showcasing the vertical format (9:16). Six artists lent themselves to the game of this framed freedom to think beyond limits, on the edge of the ordinary, in the margins.
Shawn Grenier, Flânerie éphémère dans le téléphone de l’artiste
Lucie Bedet, L’entourage
Marthe Lenoir, Memorabilia
Isabelle Michaud, Espace pleural
Tchayé Briat, Writer’s block
Madi Piller, Abstraction verticale
In an airy scenography, the works in this group show, presented using video mapping techniques, play with introspection and interiority.
Tchayé Briat and Shawn Grenier discuss the artist’s solitude in the face of the creative process, which is often more alienating than gratifying. How does one find legitimacy as an artist? This is a question that runs through Grenier’s short film, showing how the artist must constantly justify his or her work, as well as Briat’s, whose protagonist is confronted with blank-page syndrome. Marthe Lenoir is also affected by this issue. As she doesn’t see herself as marginalized, she decides to highlight the only aspect of her life that she considers to be on the margins: her long-distance relationship with her partner.
Lucie Bedet also talks about interiority and creation. She sees the margins in the elements of everyday life, in the noises that forge us but which we tend to neglect, yet which constitute a great creative force for artists. She wonders about our place in our environment, which has a definite influence on our inner life. Isabelle Michaud evokes our physical interiority through the pleural space, the place in the human body where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged. We’re constantly moving from one state to another; the movement of life coexists with that of death.
Finally, Madi Piller‘s abstract, plastic work speaks of permutations and infinite multiplications: doesn’t this reflect the very essence of life, our environment and what constitutes us internally?
The artists featured in this video exhibition have all chosen to place sound at the heart of their work. Margin is expressed through the sound of fingers striking a keyboard, whether computer or telephone, through anguished, melancholy soundtracks, or through everyday or familiar sounds, such as the voice of a loved one.
