19 february to april 24, 2022

Espace )( Parenthèses

Champ liminal

“We can choose what we observe, what we perceive, what we experience.”
Camille de Toledo, Les potentiels du temps.

Our understanding of current reality is circumscribed in part by the ecological crisis, which, under the neoliberal system, locks us in a holding pattern as we await the end of the world. But what if our impotence toward future events were modulated by our gaze? What would happen if, in an attempt to reclaim control over the finitude that overwhelms us, we transformed our ways of conceiving the present by subduing the belief systems that enthral our perceptions? The gallery space is conceived as a liminal space, with the aim of rethinking humanity’s relationship to the natural environment. Time and conventions are suspended so that we may inhabit a space of potentiality. This moment of occupation and reflection is guided by a dialogue among four artists who are redefining the concept of contemporaneity through experimentation

By nurturing a close relationship attuned to their respective media, each inspired by natural ecosystems, the artists propose interpretations that diverge from apocalyptic visions of the future. The concerted involvement of these artistic processes in research on the formal characteristics of the subject matter leads to the creation of new, free structures that give voice to living and non-living ecosystems. By combining temporal and aesthetic references from older and current traditions, anachronistic representations render porous the boundary between visions of the real and the imaginary. Freed from rational blueprints, the works apprehend what surrounds us differently. They translate what we do not have the capacity to see or hear, opening worlds of possibility into which we may project ourselves.

© Laurence Pilon, Cocoon, Huile sur lin sur panneau, 17 x 14, 2020
© Laurence Veri, Amoureux et rainette, Porcelaine et ilménite, 36 x 28 cm, 2019
© Lindsay Dobbin, Drum Voices