Conjuguer l'espace au temps | Composer

Galerie B-312 is pleased to present "Conjuguer l'espace au temps | Composer", the second exhibition of a series designed to highlight the 30th anniversary of our centre: three special exhibitions, created by artists invited to commit themselves around questions related to space and time. From March 19, come and visit the proposals of Moridja Kitenge Banza, Marion Lessard and Vincent Routhier, who were invited to explore time as a material to think about and model. They work from and around the first space occupied by Galerie B-312, The unit 312, reproduced in 1:2 format. Artists use the presentation device to divert the function of objects and present a reality that is owned by them. The avatar, the mise en abyme and the anacoluthon arise as figures allowing the compression and modulation of past, present and future time.

Focusing on the anniversary date of Gallery B-312, Moridja Kitenge Banza realized that when the center was born in September 1991, he, as a child, was experiencing the begining of the Pillage of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). In a series of digital prints, he juxtaposes images from his home country with archival photographs of Montreal, all from this era. In addition to referring to shared Christianity, by updating the illumination which he alters by adding cultural symbols from Congo and Quebec, he highlights the decorative aspect. It changes the function of this type of imagery and gives it a new angle to see, thanks to the format and the framing. These displacements are combined with the photomontages which create a new narrative by linking two places, while each photograph, taken separately, represents moments anchored in historical news. 
 

Marion Lessard offers the installation "L’œuf ou la poule", inspired by this ancient paradox. In order to interact with the reproduction of the first space of the gallery, present in the large room, the collective has reconstructed it two more times, preserving the 1:2 scale from one to the other. Digital prints complete the installation. By creating a mise en abyme and an anachronistic reinterpretation of works by Giotto, in which the model of the first place of the gallery and the figure of the artists of the collective interfere, Marion Lessard transposes the aporia to the world of art: which of the work, the artist or the structure comes first? Where does the legitimization of what is called “art” come from? The multiplication of the space recalls the unusual structure of the collective of five people embodied in a single body that is Marion Lessard, whose concepts of identity, unity and originality are at the heart of her concerns.

"Reversion to condition" is the meeting of 21 emblematic works of crypto art chosen by Vincent Routhier in collaboration with R0m4, collector of digital art. They are physically accessible in the small room of Gallery B-312 and virtually thanks to a QR code. The presentation device designed by Vincent Routhier, in which he has inserted an echo of his own artistic practice, allows him to reflect on what is hidden behind the screen and to exploit the idea that the collector contributes in all stages, from the creation to the exhibition of the works. A virtual reality headset, whose function has been diverted to let reality be perceived, is added to the installation. By puzzling tangible and virtual spaces, this project invites us to observe the limits of representation of digital art and highlights political, sociological and philosophical subjects through work on the screen.

—JOANNIE BOULAIS
[free translation]
 

This series of exhibitions and the activities surrounding them, have been made possible thanks to the support of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts and the contribution of the Caisse du Plateau-Mont-Royal, our financial partner for over thirty years.