Month-long interactive installation by Micheline Parent : May 3 – June 1, 2008
Special one-day interactive installation by Stéphanie Brodeur: May 3, 2 – 5PM
Special live sound and video performance by Michael Trommer and Éric Filion: May 3, 5PM
The exhibition Performing Memory brings together four artists from Ontario and Québec, all of whom explore the impact of media on memory. They have produced new works for the exhibition that are activated by the human body, either that of the artist or of the spectator. The works function together as a testament to photography’s popular role as the evocative medium for souvenir and memory.
Toronto-based Micheline Parent contributes an interactive digital media project entitled Cornucopia, that invites the viewer to navigate through lush gardens and a rustic country cottage. Projected on three screens, the journey through Parent’s world is abundant with historical references to 17th century English gardens, Da Vinci’s sketchbooks, abstract painting and early photography.
Semiosis by Michael Trommer (Toronto) and Éric Fillion (Montréal) is a live sound and video performance that explores the problematic notion of the universal symbol. By layering drawings from the caves of Lascaux, contemporary airport signage and other well-known iconography, the artists create a new visual language.
Stéphanie Brodeur (Ottawa) examines the randomness of memory in an interactive work entitled Souvenir éphémère. The viewer’s presence triggers colored bubbles that land on photographic paper, leaving a lasting impression of the gallery-goer’s visit.
Curated by Jason St-Laurent, assisted by Jennifer Cherniack