PLACE FORWHISPERS OF THE INVISIBLE

Through installation installations, Jean-François Côté conceptually, poetically and critically explores notions of image, sound, narrativity and the environment in a context of digital and ecological transition. Faced with the omnipresence of mass media, he transforms images into sensitive places to inhabit.

Jean-François Côté's work has been shown in numerous exhibitions in Canada, Mexico, Chile, Croatia, Greece and China, among others. Based in Quebec City, he is a professor at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, co-founder of the Laboratoire intersectoriel en art, technologie et environnement "SYMBIOSE", and also works in permanent public art.

Invisible stories by Jean-François Côté deploys an immersive, sensory space where each viewer is invited to compose his or her own narratives and navigate through a multiplicity of temporalities. At the crossroads of video installation and soundscape, the work is based on a complex system of multiprojections and audio channels, giving rise to a constellation of trajectories in constant (re)construction. Rhythms are superimposed: slowness, acceleration, suspension, like echoes of natural cycles and the breath of the world. Fragments of life intersect, brush against one another, respond to one another, weaving a poetic of place, movement and memory.

At the heart of this installation is the notion of the border, not as a fixed line, but as a zone of friction and interaction. The work questions the place of human beings in a changing world, and evokes the sometimes ephemeral, sometimes lasting traces left by their crossings of the territory.

Mathieu Valade's artistic practice explores the links between geometry, perception and the mediated image. Through video, sculptural and optical installations, he deconstructs the omnipresence of the screen by playing on repetition, reflection and the fragmentation of space. His work reveals the artifices of representation, creating perceptual loops and inviting the eye to slow down, linger and question the very stability of what it perceives.

Mathieu Valade lives and works in Chicoutimi, Quebec. His work has been shown in museums, galleries and artist-run centers in Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Greece, the United States and Sweden. His works are included in numerous public and institutional collections. He has also created a number of public artworks, both permanent and temporary.

Sky and water by Mathieu Valade is a video installation consisting of a series of vertically-mounted television screens, tilted forward and arranged in a cascade, like the pages of a half-open book. Each screen features the same slow tracking shot over a misty lake, where sky, water and the diffuse silhouette of an island gradually appear. Together, the screens form an image that is both fragmented and unified, inviting the eye to move between illusion and perception.

This work was made possible by a financial contribution from CALQ.

This video projection takes the form of a montage in which emblematic buildings from different currents in the history of art and architecture are gradually transformed by the effects of natural elements and the passage of time. Modernist structures, classical monuments and utopian forms seem to dissolve, flare up or fragment, giving rise to unstable, shifting landscapes. The disturbingly beautiful images were generated with the help of artificial intelligence, used here as a speculative tool.

This work was partly co-produced by the Grand Théâtre de Québec.

Pierre&Marie is a duo formed by Pierre Brassard and Marie-Pier Lebeau Lavoie, active since 2008 and based in Quebec City. Their work humorously reinterprets symbols of popular culture to reveal the absurdity and poetry of contemporary life. Combining wonder and gentle resistance, their practice addresses current social issues with sensitivity.

The duo has presented over thirty exhibitions in Canada, France and Taiwan, in museums, artist-run centers and galleries. Their work can be found in numerous public, private and institutional collections. Their work has been recognized by a number of awards and distinctions for its contribution to the Québec art scene.

Big Other - Disciplinary companies integrates animated eyes into the architectural façade of the Aire publique. Their jerky movements on circular LED screens seem to scrutinize passers-by in Place Royale. The work transforms the building into an active observer, inciting playfulness and reflection on notions of surveillance and control.

With a visual language inspired by familiar emojis, Big Other subtly raises issues related to data collection and the management of digital environments. Also suggesting a protective gaze, these luminous eyes light up the street and invite us to consider the delicate balance between security and discomfort, benevolence and surveillance.

Lee Yongbaek has established himself on the international scene through his bold articulation of technology and media to reflect the beauty, violence and perception of the contemporary imagination. He deploys a wide range of devices - video, interactive art, sound, kinetics and robotics - to visualize the human psyche and socio-political issues of our time.

Born in Gimpo, Korea, Lee Yongbaek is a graduate of Hongik University in Korea and the Stuttgart Academy of Art and Design in Germany. He represented Korea at the Venice Biennale in 2011 and has taken part in biennales in Moscow, Busan, Gwangju and the Nanjing International Art Festival.

Lee Yongbaek's Angel Soldier is a striking video installation that confronts the delicacy of floral motifs with the harsh reality of war. Against a backdrop of colorful artificial flowers, six soldiers wear uniforms made from the same floral fabric, transforming the scene into an alluring yet strange field of flowers. At first glance, the video appears to depict a still landscape, lulled by the gentle sounds of nature. But the illusion gradually cracks: the flowers subtly come to life to reveal the camouflaged soldiers, slowly advancing and creating a barely perceptible tension.

Through this contrast between aesthetic beauty and concealed militarism, the work questions perception, identity and conflict in a society where artifice seduces as much as it disorients. The antinomic figures of angel and soldier, nature and violence, coexist in a simulacrum that is both fascinating and disturbing.

Kira Kim criticizes the power dynamics of capitalism and the false ideals it conveys with humor and acuity. Drawing on his own experiences, he deconstructs dominant narratives, amplifies marginalized voices and explores social and psychological tensions, inviting audiences to confront the uncomfortable truths at the heart of contemporary Korean society and global capitalism.

Born in Dacheon, Korea, Kira Kim holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. He has participated in international biennales in Gwangju, Busan and Liverpool, and has exhibited in prestigious institutions such as the National Art Museum of China. He was a finalist for the Korean Artist Award and winner of the Korean Art Critics Association Artist Award.

On a darkened stage, a violent struggle unfolds in slow motion. Three figures seem caught up in an "every man for himself" struggle, tugging and pushing each other with an almost desperate intensity to rise above the others. Their silent cries are drowned out by a strident soundtrack that heightens the tension. As the camera pulls back, more bodies appear: five figures finally supported, precariously, by a single standing man, wavering under their collective weight but refusing to give in.

This chaotic physicality becomes a trenchant metaphor for the individualistic competitive spirit shaped by contemporary capitalism. Kira Kim reveals the paradox of a hierarchical system where the survival of some depends on the oppression of others, underlining the fragility of the ideologies that govern our lives. Blind Man: Different Way questions the human condition today, exposing how collective structures shape our relationships, behaviors and responsibilities to one another.

Maxime Corbeil-Perron is an artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal whose artistic practice unfolds in a multiplicity of media: audiovisual performance, experimental cinema, electroacoustic composition, improvisation, sound art and installation.

As a director, he has received awards and mentions at the Ann Arbor Film Festival (USA), Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma, Vienna Shorts (Austria), Prix Ars Electronica (Austria) and the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal.

Permutations is a light and sound installation featuring a trio of 16 mm projectors augmented by a hand-crafted light control and distortion device. The work is part of an archaeo-media research project exploring the relationship between obsolete technologies and contemporary devices, in order to reactivate past media and reveal new aesthetic potentialities.

A Recto-Verso co-production presented in collaboration with Werktank.

Matthew Biederman is a multidisciplinary artist who has been exploring perception, data and media systems through installation, performance and video since the 1990s. His work has been presented at international biennials and festivals, and is held in public and private collections in North America.

Lucas Paris works in real time with sound and visuals, and has been building digital instruments and software for over ten years. His research, applied to audiovisual performances, focuses on immersive audience engagement through multi-sensory, emotive content and scenography.

Situational Compliance is an interactive audiovisual installation that hijacks the game "Jacques a dit" to explore, with humor and acuity, the mechanisms of public surveillance. Drawing on artificial intelligence and computer vision, the work features a system that observes, interprets and directs the public's actions, making visible the power dynamics at work in our digital environments.

A Recto-Verso co-production in collaboration with MUTEK MTL.