Around remains
Reorganizing residual materials
of artistic practice
Installation
2013
Since En exercice (Galerie de l’UQAM, 2006), I recover and salvage what is left of the getups cobbled up to transform myself — masks, fake limbs, wrappings, stuffings and assemblages. In 2008, in an action presented during the exhibition Le moment de la déprise at Galerie B-312 (Le dessein des restes), I cut up and pulverized part of the elements I had preserved. These remains — shreds, chips, twigs, scraps, bits and pieces — were then integrated into successive performances (La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, 2009; Pêche au lancer, 2010; En exercice à Venise, 2013) that in turn produced other remains. Stock is an installation composed of these accumulated materials. The piece was presented for the first time in 2013 at the Z2O Galleria — Sara Zanin in Rome.
Stock
Stock, 2013. Galleria Z20 - Sara Zanin, Rome. Photo : Raphaëlle de Groot.
Stock, 2013. Galleria Z20 - Sara Zanin, Rome. Photo : Raphaëlle de Groot.
Stock, 2013. Galleria Z20 - Sara Zanin, Rome. Photo : Raphaëlle de Groot.
Le moment de
la déprise
Le dessein des restes, 2008. Galerie B-312, Montréal. Photo : David Jacques.
Le dessein des restes, 2008. Galerie B-312, Montréal. Photo : David Jacques.
Le dessein des restes, 2008. Galerie B-312, Montréal. Photo : Mathilde Géromin.
Le dessein des restes, 2008. Galerie B-312, Montréal. Photo : David Jacques.
Le dessein des restes, 2008. Galerie B-312, Montréal. Photo : David Jacques.
Le dessein des restes, 2008. Galerie B-312, Montréal. Photo : David Jacques.
Exhibition
Galerie B-312
2008
Montréal, Quebec
My performance works leave behind all kinds of residual objects that I carefully preserve. When I travel, I store these leftovers in a suitcase that becomes my workshop upon my arrival to destination. In Le moment de la déprise, I engaged in cutting up those remainders in various ways. Day after day, I shredded them, dissected them, pulverized them, pulled them apart. These actions, done when the gallery was closed, led to the Le dessein de restes installation.
“However, these gestures are not acted out for themselves. They undo and decompose, but they engender another action, that of letting go, of which one here has to take stock. The substantial visual material generated by the artist’s past performances and installations can also be viewed as experiment leftovers. The artist wanted to reinvest them, along with Johanne Jarry (writing) and Paul Martin (graphism), by creating L’espace commun, a collective editing work that will go on throughout the exhibition.”
—Jean-Émile Verdier, press release, Galerie B-312.
Workshop ; installation
Produced as part of the exhibition Chantiers at the Centre d’art Le Quartier in collaboration with the École supérieure des beaux-arts de Cornouaille.
Curated by Dominique Abensour
April 11 to June 8 2008
Quimper, France
L'art
d'accommoder
les restes
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. École des beaux-arts de Cornouaille, Quimper. Photo : Raphaëlle de Groot.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. École des beaux-arts de Cornouaille, Quimper. Photo : Raphaëlle de Groot.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. École des beaux-arts de Cornouaille, Quimper. Photo : Pierre Le Saint.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. École des beaux-arts de Cornouaille, Quimper. Photo : Lucie Dufour.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. École des beaux-arts de Cornouaille, Quimper. Photo : Lucie Dufour.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. École des beaux-arts de Cornouaille, Quimper. Photo : Charlène Ledu.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. École des beaux-arts de Cornouaille, Quimper. Photo : Pierre Le Saint.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. École des beaux-arts de Cornouaille, Quimper. Photo : Pierre Le Saint.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Vidéogramme.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Pierre Le Saint.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Pierre Le Saint.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Pierre Le Saint.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Workshop. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Pierre Le Saint.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Installation. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Dieter Kik.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Installation. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Dieter Kik.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Installation. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Dieter Kik.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Installation. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Dieter Kik.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Installation. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Dieter Kik.
L'art d'accommoder les restes, 2008. Installation. Centre d'art Le Quartier, Quimper. Photo : Dieter Kik.
L’art d’accommoder les restes is a workshop I conducted from March 17 to 29 2008 at École supérieure des beaux-arts de Cornouaille (Quimper, France) with the students Tristan Fraipont, Charlène Le Du, Jérémie Legendre, Pierre Le Saint, Margot Louarn, Christelle Macé, Sandra Mercier, Mélanie Peduzzi, Marine Penhouët, Manon Peresse, Nathalie Pitel, Caroline Quéguiner, Soizic Rémy. L’art d’accommoder les restes is also the installation resulting from this workshop and is composed of objects destined to be taken away by the public.
As a starting point, I asked the students to accumulate work leftovers: unused or unusable materials, scraps, residues, remains, surplus… We then engaged ourselves in a chain of collective actions aimed at reconsidering and sorting out the gathered elements by experimenting with their potential. These actions took place over repeated work sessions involving three compulsory stages: “making”, “unmaking” and “remaking”. The end of a stage lead to the beginning of another that in turn started with the remains of the previous. The stock considerably diminished, a classification occurred; a number of elements were modified or transformed. This work was video recorded. Choices, associations and compositions emerged from a chaotic and indistinct wholeThe last work session was held at Le Quartier.
The last work session was held at Le Quartier. On the last day of the exhibition, the visitors were invited to carry away the objects they found interesting or that struck their fancy.