EIM 2019 / JEAN-PIERRE AUBÉ / SATELLITE PROJECTS - CREATIVE RESIDENCIES AND WORKS IN THE PERIPHERY / DU MONT-MÉGANTIC AUX EXOPLANÈTES
Opening reception : Tuesday, July 23, 2019 ‑ 16h30
Du mont-mégantic aux exoplanètes (2019) – Movie
The film proposed by Jean-Pierre Aubé is the result of a one-year residency (2018-2019) – as part of Sporobole’s “Interface” program – at the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic, the iREx and the ASTROlab of Mont-Mégantic. Du mont-mégantic aux exoplanètes is presented as a journey in three steps through all the seasons: we start as close as possible to nature, we follow the mountain path and then we are directed towards the telescope of the Observatory which already redirects us towards the sky and the stars, in the distance. From there, the tangible world shifts to that of data and algorithms. The film is a crossing and it carries within it an observation: by arranging passages from the micro to the macro, it brings to the forefront the space-time scales and their impact on our perception of the world.
The star to which the film goes back is called GU Psc. Scientists at iREx have discovered a planetary mass orbiting it: an exoplanet whose distance from its star is 2000 times the distance from the Earth to the sun, while the star itself is 1.45 million billion km from the Earth. From where we are, it is a tiny point in the universe, a star among many others. Yet this distance is what allows us to measure the extent of our vertigo.
On the borderline between documentary neutrality and scientific objectivity, Du mont-mégantic aux exoplanètes questions the mechanisms of the gaze as much as those, more obscure, of the increasingly complex instruments that allow us to collect masses of data. Monitored and analyzed, examined and processed, these data – with what they reveal and conceal at the same time – remind us that the universe constantly escapes us.
Satellite projects – creative residencies and works in the periphery
For the first time since the beginning of EIM, Sporobole created bridges with three regions of the Eastern Townships on the outskirts of Sherbrooke: Saint-Camille, Compton, Valcourt and Mont-Mégantic. These bridges took the form of in-situ creation residences where artists were invited, in May, June and July, to conceive a creation project anchored in the community. With the punctual contribution of citizens in various forms, in connection with the projects, the artists produce works that put into perspective certain distinctive values that help define these regions. Whether it is a question of mobility, precision agriculture, robotization of agri-food processes, transformation of the landscape or connected territories, the axes of reflection that have given shape to the projects are the common threads that allow artistic creation and the specificity of the contexts to be linked together.
Each in their own way, these projects also call upon the notions of connection, transmission, surveillance, capture, observation, infiltration and invasion, which constitute the reflective foundations of this 5th edition of EIM.
Saint-Camille :: Isabelle Gagné (QC-CA) – Hektor (2019)
Compton :: Mériol Lehmann (QC-CA) – 308 lots (2019)
Valcourt :: Alexandre Castonguay (QC-CA) and Mariangela Aponte Núñez (CO) – Agit P.O.V. (2012-)
ASTROlab du Mont-Mégantic :: Jean-Pierre Aubé (QC-CA) – Du mont-mégantic aux exoplanètes (2019)
