September 15-October21, 2017. François Quévillon
François Quévillon was at the Vatnajökull glacier in August 2014 when warnings of the possible eruption of the Bárðarbunga subglacial stratovolcano begun. During this period, he made audiovisual recordings of monitoring systems, of the territory’s transformation due to volcanic activity, as well as geothermal phenomena and power plants. Waiting for Bárðarbunga consists of hundreds of video loops that are grouped and linked according to formal, conceptual, location-based and event-based characteristics. Next to the projection, a device recalling instruments used in volcanology displays graphs that translate the activity of the computer that presents the videos. The audiovisual piece evolves based on a probabilistic system influenced by live information coming from the computer’s sensors. According to the amplitude of their variation and the correlations between the types of data, what the viewer experiences ranges from comtemplative spaces where time seems to be suspended to energy charged audiovisual blasts. The work has an unpredictable unfolding and its conclusion remains uncertain as the system’s monitoring and the course of events it presents influences each other.
François Quévillon is an artist from Montreal. He develops an interdisciplinary practice through installation, video, photography, sound and digital technologies. His work explores phenomena of the world and perception by the implementation of processes sensitive to their fluctuations and to the interference of contextual elements. He examines the operational dimensions of images, sounds and other media through the elaboration of systems with unstable parameters, compressed or endlessly evolving spatiotemporal structures. Engaging both scientific observation and a contemplative state of mind, his pieces propose ambiguous experiences through which the ungraspable manifests itself. He investigates how technology affects or redefines human cognition, culture, the environment, as well as our relationships to space, time and one another.
He holds a Master’s degree in Visual and Media Arts from UQAM and was involved with several artist-run centres and research groups. His work, which is frequently developed during artist residencies, has been presented at exhibitions and events dedicated to contemporary art, cinema and digital creation. Among them : Sundance’s New Frontier exhibition (Park City), Spaces Under Scrutiny (New York), International Symposium on Electronic Art (Dubaï and Albuquerque), Balance-Unbalance (Plymouth), Festival Internacional de Linguagem Eletrônica (São Paulo), IndieBo (Bogotá), LOOP Barcelona, Contemporary Istanbul, Show Off Paris, Festival de la Imagen (Manizales), Mois Multi (Québec), Espace [IM] Média (Sherbrooke), RIDM, Elektra and International Digital Art Biennal (Montréal).
