This third proposal in the Possible Awakenings series brings the public to the horizon of the culture of self-care. On the program: a harvest of native plants and tasting of homemade herbal teas, followed by a participatory performance ironically similar to a yoga class. Through micro-actions or a humorously taunting of the ambivalent neoliberal logic that overlaps the cult of individual well-being and collective exhaustion, the artists invite us to these familiar activities towards a common intention: that addresses the irrepressible need to consume and its degradation effect on of ecosystems.
On the one hand, Ahreum Lee is interested in well-being as a socio-political concept as a call to the consumption of miracle products and the tendencies of "healthy life" that more so nourish capitalist industry. Such success is based on a paradoxical modus operandi in which everyone is demanded to develop their full potential, their productivity, and their performance while aiming for carelessness and happiness. Through the simulation of a performative yoga class, the artist demonstrates through irony how the obsession for well-being, often linked to the DIY "do it yourself", is ultimately plagued by the mechanisms of savage capitalism.
On the other, Nicole Fournier offers a gathering-performance during which the public is invited to discover the powers of native plants from the work EmballeToi! Landscape! The artist puts forward the positive intervention of plants on degraded ecosystems by initiating a process of decomposition of synthetic textiles based on petroleum, widely used in the ready-to-wear industry. Visitors are invited to consult a herbarium in the garden, identify the crops in discussion with the artist, and to taste these infused plants while discovering their health benefits.
Pairing these two interventions is thus to employ artistic means as a path to reveal the oppressive nature of contemporary modes of consumption and to get out of passivity in the face of these dominant models.
6 PM: Nicole Fournier - Foraging-performance
The installation EmballeToi! Landscape, presented on the Darling Foundry's Place Publique for the next thousand years, is an extremely durational performative work. The artist compiles several gestures contributing to the decomposition of synthetic fabrics by bury them under a mixture of clay, sand, humus and compost.
Nicole Fournier's artistic practice is based on interdisciplinarity, weaving together aspects of public art, participatory performance, collaboration, cultural mediation and ecovention - a concept which applies to an intervention in eco-art, which results in positive outcomes for degraded ecosystems.
7 PM: Ahreum Lee - I+CARE
“Searching for the PAUSE button? Come indulge your body, and free your mind with a self-care performance sponsored by I+CARE! As our performers demonstrate meditative yoga routines, this performance brings together the writings of Ivan Illich from Shadow Work and anecdotes for self-care, planned obsolescence, and shadow labour. Remember: self-care is a necessity for a lifetime's worth of productivity and fulfillment!”
I+CARE is the part of a body of work which resembles IKEA instructions designed for self-care in an imagined near-future home. I+CARE is a meditation on the alienation and anxiety caused by the shadow labour market of our neoliberal economies. “Do It Yourself” culture is constantly being marketed to us as a form of empowerment, when in fact it is a cost-cutting measure where labour previously done by employees is being offloaded on to consumers. The artist conceives impossible health machine DIY kits to portray a future where one imagines that every stress-related medical problem could be solved by oneself.
Ahreum Lee is a musician and interdisciplinary artist from Seoul, South Korea, currently based in Montreal. Lee began her career as the frontwoman of an experimental art-rock band Juck Juck Grunzie. After spending a decade producing records and touring internationally, she began to extend her practice into video and multimedia installation work. Through a variety of media, Lee is interested in examining the feedback loop between the individual and society.
Do not forget to reserve your spot for the yoga workshop: http://bit.ly/YogaAhreum
Starting at 5:30 PM, come and enjoy the Darling Foundry's Second Nature Bar and enjoy delicious tacos from Vitamina T and local craft beer from our generous sponsor, the microbrewery 4 Origins Brewing Co.'s!
Dj set of Jérôme Nadeau
