EXHIBITIONS
UPCOMING - CURRENT - ARTIST TALK - PAST

GENRE : ADO
NIcole Benoit

December 6 to 20, 2008
Vernissage: Saturday, December 6, 2008, 5pm to 7pm

[Download press release PDF]

Genre: Ados, 32 minutes in loop.

This installation offers a unique narrative approach by combining the migration of the image and sound from one surface to the other with equivocal instructions for the filming protocol, which were deliberately conceived to encourage the young subjects to break the rules imposed on them. The unique feature of this project is the exploration of an interval of meaning between the teenagers' actions and their speech. The protocol offers a fictional structure in which the essence of adolescence can be revealed almost as in a documentary. The way the teenagers appear at once conscious and unconscious of the camera's presence is fascinating. The camera serves them more as a mirror than a window. They draw us into the vacillation between their love for themselves and their love for others. The interpretation of the protocol, the physical contact imposed with the objects and with others, the fact of being in front of the camera (for the teenagers) and in the environment of the installation (for the visitors) should act as revelation.

Born in Beaconsfield, Québec, Nicole Benoit studied Industrial Design and Visual and Media Art. For over 30 years she has been active in various cultural and artistic domains. She produced and co-signed many independent art videos as well as contributed in television, film and radio productions. For many years she taught visual arts at the Université de Sherbrooke and at Bishop University and she also worked in various capacities for the Governement of Québec. Her work has been seen in Québec, Canada and Europe. For the last few years she has concentrated her work on the achievement of her personal artistic vision. She is presently finishing a doctorate at the Université du Québec à Montréal, where her research focuses on the quest for new narrative forms and the exploration of an interval of meaning between action and speech, a theme which has been present in her installations and video work since the beginning.

My gratitude goes to Chantal duPont and Andrée Martin and also to Lian Benoit, LiZhan Benoit, Leïla Bujold, Fanny Geist, Claudine Girard, Nicolas Lachapelle et Antoine Thibodeau. And thank you to everyone who gave me a hand, in particular to Kim Simard.