Lorna Bauer, Berdaguer & Péjus, Michel Blazy, Sébastien Cliche, Alexandre David, Edith Dekyndt, Kuh Del Rosario, Gordon Mat, Nicole McDonald-Fournier, Nour Mobarak
26.09.2024 – 08.12.2024
Déliquescence
Déliquescence, a group exhibition featuring local and international artists on the theme of entropy
PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release – September 20, 2024 – From September 26, Fonderie Darling presents Déliquescence, an ambitious exhibition revolving around the unifying and inspiring theme of entropy.
Bringing together five international artists - Gordon Matta-Clark, Edith Dekyndt, Nour Mobarak, Berdaguer & Péjus and Michel Blazy - and five local artists - Nicole McDonald-Fournier, Alexandre David, Sébastien Cliche, Kuh Del Rosario and Lorna Bauer - the exhibition seeks to reveal how this predominant theme on the North American art scene of the 1970s is resurgent in current artistic practices.
Entropy is defined as the measure that evaluates the inevitable degradation of everything, quantifies the intensity of the transformation from one ordered state to another uncontrolled one, and quantitatively establishes the degree of disorder of a system, its capacity to change state, or its quantity of instability.
“This exhibition represents an important subject for me, as it is inspired by my perpetual interests in industrial wastelands, which themselves undergo a form of entropy. My fascination with their status as ruins that slowly decay over time, and my desire to reverse this trend by rehabilitating them, is part of an ongoing negotiation with this form of obsolescence,” says exhibition curator Caroline Andrieux.
Given over to their derangement, the result of chemical or biological mutation, fusion, or melting, each of these artistic proposals undergoes an evolution towards decomposition, the abandonment of its defined form, and the acceptance of its dissolution into another form.
LORNA BAUER, photographer and sculptor based in Quebec, evokes in each of her proposals a state of transition, an opening towards another form, a mutation. Three photographs from two different series are presented.
BERDAGUER & PÉJUS, an artist duo based in Marseilles, have turned their attention to ROBERT SMITHSON's writings on the subject of entropy. The artists take their peer's words word for word, to experiment with his conceptual approach.
MICHEL BLAZY works with living matter in installations and sculptures that reclaim the passage of time, breathing new life into elements through the unpredictability of natural processes. The artist presents a monumental wall installation and sculptures made from obsolete computer and audiovisual equipment.
Inspired by the dematerialization of data, Montreal artist SÉBASTIEN CLICHE conveys his preoccupations with a rapidly changing world through constantly evolving installations. In chemical and crystalline solutions, the artist inserts elements from our culture, gradually mutating them toward a state of total neutrality.
ALEXANDRE DAVID's current practice involves systematically deconstructing and reconstructing each of his pieces, using only the materials available for each, and moving them from one state to another. Designer of Fonderie Darling's reading platform, the artist transforms his work, giving it a new function.
KUH DEL ROSARIO's practice refers to alternative realms in which urban detritus is revitalized and transfigured into new forms. The artist has designed a specific installation in keeping with the exhibition theme: a sculpture fountain whose water will be used to oxidize and crystallize the elements of the sculpture.
American post-minimalist artist of the late 60s, GORDON MATTA-CLARK and his contemporaries inspired the theme of this exhibition through their interest in the concept of entropy, notably through works that highlighted the principle of melting and fusion. In Fresh Kill, presented for the first time at Documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972, a radical transformation takes place.
EDITH DEKYNDT is interested in the creative process, even before considering a final product. As a result, many of her works are constantly evolving, continuing their mutation towards a form that sometimes remains undetermined and makes visible the creative power of exchanges between materials. Two of these works are on display.
Committed to an eco-responsible approach, NICOLE MCDONALD-FOURNIER creates installations from recycled plants and materials with the aim of questioning our lifestyles. Temporarily moved from Place Publique, where the work had taken root, Paysage Emballe-toi! questions our habits of clothing consumption.
A multidisciplinary artist living in Los Angeles, NOUR MOBARAK experiments with works and installations whose finality is still uncertain. The artist works with mycelium and fungi, which she considers to be her assistants, collaborators, or makers.
A roundtable is scheduled for Saturday, September 28 at 3pm, reuniting the exhibition artists and curator Gentiane Bélanger.
The exhibition Déliquescence is made possible by the generous support of our partners: le Conseil des arts du Canada, le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and le Conseil des arts de Montréal.
ABOUT
Fonderie Darling is a visual arts venue that was founded and is directed by the not-for-profit art organization Quartier Éphémère, which has the mandate of supporting the creation, production, and dissemination of contemporary art. A small business by nature, Fonderie Darling develops a wide range of tools for the distribution of art to a broader public. Fonderie Darling occupies 3,500 m2 in two adjoined former industrial buildings in Old Montreal. It presents exhibitions, makes studios available to local artists, and hosts international residencies, offering artists and the public fulfilling experiences in an inspiring context and with a sense of coherence that facilitates the comprehension of contemporary art. A unique institution in Montreal, Fonderie Darling has set itself the objective of bringing together the local and international art scenes through its activities.
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For interviews and photos :
Ana Lucia Londono Flores
Communications and events coordinator
ana@fonderiedarling.org
514 392-1554