Festival Art Souterrain
Exhibition place
Activities
L’oiseau qui plane et ne cesse d’agrandir son cercle, 2017-2024
Two-channel video installation, sound (60 min)
As a place of gathering, the table calls for sharing, for small daily ceremonies and large events. In this video diptych, the public is witness to an unbridled feast where the friendship of four women cohabits with the fantasized portrait of their destinies. In this joyful theatre comprised of repetitive gestures, jubilant debacles and transforming matter, the energy and verve of each woman is depicted through a succession of impressionist tableaus and moments of feasting.
This piece is the result of creative workshops to which Mélanie Bédard invited a dozen friends and fellow artists. Everyone was asked to sit around a screen-space, overhung by a camera, and encouraged to manifest the material and sound embodied in their creative passions.
From the outpouring of each person’s know-how – in painting, weaving, modeling, drawing, gardening, sound design… – are born stop-motion animated films, timelapses, memory landscapes, material thoughts, rituals and small manias that intertwine from soup to dessert, the time of an effervescent meal.
Biography
Originally from Trois-Rivières, Mélanie Bédard studied at Laval University in Quebec. She holds a bachelor’s degree which was completed during a stay at the École supérieure des beaux-arts de Marseille in 2001 and a master’s degree in Visual Arts obtained in 2010. As a professional video artist, her work has been presented in several artist-run centres in Quebec, as well as during events in Quebec City, Montreal, Marseille, Paris and Berlin. She has received several grants from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and from Première Ovation.
Since 2000, she has been involved in several artistic organizations in the city of Quebec. She currently holds the position of general director, and director of programming at Productions Recto-Verso / Festival Mois Multi.
Special thanks to: Les serres Naturo, Gaëtan Gosselin, Line Nault, Caroline Gagné, Sébastien Hudon, Geneviève Desmeules, Martine Chartrand, Myriam Lambert, Sylvain, Odette and Victor Hotte, Louise et Clémence Lebel, Julie Dutil, Yana Ouellet, Sandrine Bulté