Joceline Chabot / Denis Lessard: Under the Radar Practices
Infiltrations into public space
Fall 2009 & Spring 2010
Project Description
This fall and next spring, Centre des arts actuels Skol is introducing two surreptitious infiltrations into public space.
Joceline Chabot – Effacement.
In the fall, artist Joceline Chabot will infiltrate the space/time of her day job. While carrying on with her daily chores, Chabot is attempting to chart an unconventional course. Initially aiming to break the monotony of work, these ephemeral interventions represent a desire to blur the boundaries between her different activities. A kind of reconciliation of identities: artist / blue-collar / citizen / mother / grandmother / Montrealer — not necessarily in that order.
Denis Lessard – Parfums
In the spring, Denis Lessard will explore social stigma and taboos sanctioned by the fashion industry with an action inspired by an event experienced aboard an airplane. He will set this life-inspired gesture, or ‟citation,” in places specifically selected to reach different audiences—or no audience.
Each in their way, these artists explore modes of creativity and dissemination that sidestep the conventions of art production and display, while still surprising passers-by with the poetry of their apparently ordinary gestures. Centre des arts actuels Skol is proud to devote a part of its regular programming to these under-the-radar practices by accomplished artists who identify with the centre’s experimental and non-commercial mandate. The depth and variety of their experiences will sustain our reflections on the centre’s uses and practices throughout the year.
An appraisal of these interventions will take place in the form of a public meeting on Wednesday June 2, 2010. Participants include Anne Bérubé, Joceline Chabot, Denis Lessard, Patrice Loubier, karen elaine spencer, and anyone interested in issues related to the documentation of furtive practices. This conversation will serve to help understand the intentions and circumstances surrounding the extramural programming of the year gone by, which began last September, with Viva! art action (karen elaine spencer, curator). Even though this conversation marks the conclusion of Skol’s current program, it also functions as a point of continuity. Thanks to the generous Performance Art Supplement offered by the Canada Council for the Arts, Skol has invited karen elaine spencer to initiate a satellite program which will foster further reflection on these practices.