Sandra Lachance: Ineptie

Exhibition

October 9 – November 8, 2003

Project Description

In the public spaces we frequent daily, we often find ourselves in the presence of people who are socially awkward. Most of the time, we choose to ignore them or to just sneak away. The interactive installations of Sandra Lachance propose mises en scènes in which visitors are invited to enact these uncomfortable situations. Through the use of videographic equipment, the viewer has the opportunity to watch themselves interacting with a pre-recorded image. Upon entering Skol’s small gallery, we are invited to get close to a character struggling with her own solitude. Prisoner of banality, she talks simultaneously about everything and nothing. It is as if, in her need to communicate with us, she does not realize that, in fact, she is pouring out nothing but a strange monologue. We discover that this character’s insistent jabbering is probably directed towards an absent person. We then doubt our role as a virtual participant. Ineptie does not only substitute human contacts: it allows us to witness our own feelings of incapacity when confronted with the suffering of others.