Fondre et se fondre : l’absorption aux territoires
Description
Sylvie Tourangeau draws on the ever-changing and often-fleeting ephemerality of performance and the mutability of ice and water. Fondre et se fondre: l'absorption aux territoires is a work in three parts occurring over the duration of Manif 12, as the seasons change during the winter thaw in and around Québec City. Exploring different sites throughout the region where water transforms and is transformative, Tourangeau invites her audience to join her on this journey of actions. “Together,” she asks, “how will we break the ice between ourselves and the world that surrounds us?”
Working with three iconic landmarks—the icebreaker that crosses the St. Lawrence River between Lévis and Québec City, Montmorency Falls, and the Charles Daudelin Fountain near the Gare du palais—Tourangeau, a forerunner of feminist performance art in Québec, employs her decades of experience connecting body, land, and intersubjective relationships as the basis for a unique collective experience. Operating on different scales, she redirects our attention toward our bodies so that we may see them as vessels for saliva, tears, and other life-sustaining liquids.
A co-production of Manif d'art and the National Gallery of Canada.
The National Gallery of Canada’s National Engagement initiative is generously supported by Michael Nesbitt, with additional funding from the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.
Shown in partnership with the National Gallery of Canada, the Société des traversiers du Québec and the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq).
The artist would like to thank Angélique Amyot, Annie Baillargeon, Marie-Chantale Béland, Nancy Benoît, Anne Bérubé, Roger Langevin, Hélène Lefebvre, Sabe, Victoria Stanton, Alexandra St-Jacques, Alexandre St-Onge, Roger Cournoyer, Sylvie Michaud, and Philippe Urban.
