Pologne-en-Québec, a major video installation in two galleries at AXENÉO7 by Kinga Michalska and Sarah Chouinard-Poirier, is undoubtedly the best work of art about the pandemic that I have seen yet, tapping into the insecurities, fears, and sense of potentiality that existed during the suspended time of the lockdowns. It is in fact a product of a so-called Autoresidency at the centre, which was the method of providing support to artists they instituted during that period. Elements in the videos appear in the physical environments created for their viewing, loosening the boundaries between the two as well as contributing to the blurring of the lines between reality and fiction that occurs in them.
In a third gallery, another Autoresidency project by AM Trépanier, soif de communauté / hungry for community, presents oral, visual, and archival documentation of rural communes created by women, trans, and non-binary people in the area. At least one still from Pologne-en-Québec appears in this material, mingling fact with fantasy. The oral histories are also presented in a fanciful manner on audio cassette players resting on a low table with funky cushions, connecting again with the work presented in the other galleries. Both projects engagingly explore the pleasures and pitfalls of interpersonal dynamics and the lure of nostalgia. The complete text of my review of the exhibition was published here on the October 30 Akimblog.
No comments:
Post a Comment