OUT OF GRACE

“My choreography has always been akin to visual arts. OUT OF GRACE was nonetheless an entirely new direction for me. I proposed a location to both visual artists and dancers.

“My initial idea was to invade the gallery with non-performative bodies, a constant human presence in space, operating on the same level as the artwork.

“At exhibits, I often have the impression that works are timid in regards to the space, appearing as ‘art objects’ and occupying simple positions. This leads to the question: what would an exhibit be if it presented humans as much as artwork?

“The question of the object — at an exhibit, namely — has been extensively explored by American minimalists and formalists. I believe that the body’s presence, its ‘measure’ in regards to the object in space remains a contemporary concern.”

“In OUT OF GRACE, visual artists were invited to consider the presentation of their works through time, in the exhibit space and within a choreographic system. Of course, the question was asked: who would accept to have his or her work staged? This was one of our first topics of discussion. My primary concern was to avoid inscribing the space, the objects and the bodies as theatrical proposals.

“Choreographically ‘scripting’ an exhibit — to borrow an expression from Anri Sala — setting works in space and developing an exhibit with a score, imagining each room as a frame, a frame for working on duration.”

— Lynda Gaudreau

Credits

Premiere: November 3 to December 11, 2010;
vernissage: Wednesday, November 3, Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery (Montréal)

Coproduced by the Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery and Lynda Gaudreau / Compagnie De Brune.

Creative Assistants
Matteo Fargion, Anne Thériault

Artiste
Alexandre David, Jérôme Fortin, Aude Moreau, Yann Pocreau, Chih-Chien Wang

Dancers
Karina Iraola, Anne Thériault, Emilie Morin, Amélie Bédard-Gagnon, Marilyne St-Sauveur

Interns
Josianne Latreille, Josiane Fortin, Anouk Thériault, Élise Bergeron, Marie-Pier Bazinet, Corinne Crane-Desmarais, Nancy Rivest, Catherine Lepage, Karenne Gravel, Chantal Hausler, Andrée-Anne Ratthé, Eugénia Khoury, Chloe Millsop-Melançon, Raphaëlle Perreault, Amélie Rajotte, Gabrielle Surprenant-Lacasse

Extras
Jeanne Dubé-Blanchet, Ariane Dubé-Lavigne, Anne Trudel, Eve Leclair, Olivia Lathuilliere, Marie-Pier Morin, Renée-Anne Patenaude-Blais

Lighting
Alexandre Pilon-Guay

Sound Design
Alexandre St-Onge