Yesterday afternoon, as part of the 2021 La nuit des idées — the theme of which is “Closer” — a distributed, transatlantic, multi-site and networked apparatus was activated in order to visit and discuss an exhibition (Matières d’image and the artwork Fossilisation, during Hors-Pistes Festival, Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris), and discover research-creation practices that interrogate, from environmental and societal perspectives, the materiality of images and interfaces that can bring us closer. In addition to formal discussions, the event included video capsules and integrated a resolutely performative format — anchored in action, making, and demo — from the very locations of creation and dissemination (Pompidou Centre, Paris; Speculative Life Biolab, Milieux Institute, Concordia University).
In the context of the current sanitary crisis, which reflects the ecological crisis, images act as both remedy and problem: they enable the limitation of displacements and the possibility of social relations, at a distance. They also have an ecological impact that can no longer be neglected. How to rethink the materiality of the image in light of this dual approach? How to implement images that, through their materiality, bring us closer together and close with the environment?
The reflection was modulated by three pivotal concepts: (1) fossil-imprint, which questioned the eco-signatures left by contemporary images; (2) residual energy, which questioned methods of capture and recovery of energy linked to images and; (3) matter-data, which critically examined the ubiquity of big data and its infrastructural as well as socio-environmental weight. This event constructed a reflection and a collective dialogue on planetary futures, in connection with major projects of technological infrastructure that condition the production and circulation of images.
PARTICIPANTS:
Brice Ammar-Khodja (Individualized Program, EnsadLab – Concordia University)
Sofian Audry (École des médias, Université du Québec à Montréal)
Alexandra Bachmayer (Design and Computation Arts, Concordia University)
Martin Beauregard (Création et nouveaux médias, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue)
Samuel Bianchini (EnsadLab et Chaire arts et Sciences, École des Arts Décoratifs, Paris)
Frédéric Bigras-Burrogano (Arts visuels et médiatiques, Université du Québec à Montréal)
Marie-Pier Boucher (Institute of Communication, Culture, Information & Technology, Université of Toronto Mississauga)
Antoine Caron (Arts visuels et médiatiques, Université du Québec à Montréal)
Theo Chauvirey (Maîtrise en Design, Université Concordia)
Maria Checkhanovich (Studio Arts, Université Concordia)
Jean Dubois (Arts visuels et médiatiques, Université du Québec à Montréal)
Delfina Fantini Van Ditmar (Design Products, Royal College of Arts)
Géraldine Gomez (Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris)
Matthew Halpenny (Design and Computation Arts, Concordia University)
Orit Halpern (Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University)
Alice Jarry (Design and Computation Arts, Concordia University)
Raphaëlle Kerbrat (EnsadLab et Chaire arts et Sciences, École des Arts Décoratifs, Paris)
Annie Leuridan (Design lumière, EnsadLab, École des Arts Décoratifs, Paris)
Vanessa Mardirossian (Individualized Program, Concordia University)
Filipe Pais (EnsadLab, École des Arts Décoratifs, Paris)
Guillaume Pascale (Arts visuels et médiatiques, Université du Québec à Montréal)
Archie Reid (Arts visuels et médiatiques, Université du Québec à Montréal)
Miranda Smitheram (Design and Computation Arts, Université Concordia)
Gisèle Trudel (Arts visuels et médiatiques, Université du Québec à Montréal)
Philippe Vandal (Intermedia Cyber Arts, Concordia University)
Lee Wilkins (School of Information, Université of Toronto)
Organized in partnership with the Museum of Arts et Métiers and the Pompidou Centre, this event is co-developed by Hexagram – International Network for Research-Creation in Arts, Culture and Technology – and the research-creation team of the international project Membranes in action: Multidisciplinary Creation of Sustainable Interfaces between Communities, Ecological Milieux and the Built Environment (dir. Alice Jarry, Concordia University, Montreal; Samuel Bianchini , EnsadLab – laboratoire de l’École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs – Université PSL; Marie-Pier Boucher, University of Toronto Mississauga).The project is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC); Concordia University (Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology); The Chaire arts & sciences of École polytechnique, École des Arts Décoratifs-PSL and the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. With the support of the Institut français, the Consulat général de France à Québec and the Délégation générale du Québec à Paris.
Speculative Life BioLab 