The work of Wyn Geleynse occupies a separate space within the realm of contemporary production. Seldom do we encounter work that successfully utilizes both film and video images in installation, in addition to photographic images. The visual images that he creates continuously make reference to the workings of our memory, a tool greatly valued for its infinite possibilities and capacities. The projected image is often scaled down to become the center of the installation or the focal point of a fixed image; similar to the workings of memory, these images invoke obscure memories from a distant past.

It is necessary to attribute a mechanical quality to his work. Since the beginning of his career, Wyn Geleynse had already begun to reintroduce mechanical images that call to mind the original optical apparatuses invented in the early 19^th century. By placing the screens and the projector in clear sight, he invites these machines to participate in the total effect of the work. Furthermore, the sounds of the projector remind us of resonating motors often heard in movie theatres. The clips played on the screen suggest only slight glimpses of a vague story. Although the story conveys a fictional quality, the reaction is highly effective; these images take into account our ignorance of their content and narrative developments.

As his first exhibition in Montreal in over a decade, Wyn Geleynse delights us with new and unforeseen work. As an offshoot of his previous work, Godijn is a piece that introduces us to a new facet of his work. For this installation, Geleynse abandons the boundaries of installation and focuses on the screen. The video, seven and a half minutes long, is projected onto a single screen erected specifically for this occasion in the Darling Foundry's main gallery. In this large-scale video piece, Geleynse creates a feeling of uncertainty about human presence and a certain ambiguity of narrative. As the story unravels on the screen, it exists in a state of flux; continuously shifting and deviating following the sequence of the images. The unity of action as well as the locations and characters are within the guidelines of film production. In Gordijn, these guidelines are sacrificed in order to benefit the sequences, shots and scenes. Through its unique style and sequence, the result is a video created with the characteristics of a cinematic work of art. The content of the images and the sequence in which they are played; the angles at which the camera shifts and takes its shots; the way in which the scenes emerge and fade; all of these tools and technicalities used in cinematography are used to their full potential in order to create this cinematic work. The Dutch word Gordijn evokes a curtain drawn before our eyes. This cinematic work experiments and plays with all these tricks to evoke an emotional state in the audience that vaguely activates itself, in the depth of our senses, without telling us a grounded story.

Sylvain Campeau