Fragile Monument
Virginie Laganière, Jean-Maxime Dufresne
Trailer
This film is part of Aseman Sabet’s Carte Blanche co-presented with MUTEK.
At an altitude of 2200 meters, the Rhone glacier has become both an object of scientific study and an important touristic site of the Swiss Alps. An eloquent indication of a predicted disappearance, it is covered with textile mosaics to protect it from solar radiation. If, according to the promoters of the project, these covers contribute to reduce the acceleration of the glacial retreat, this practice remains disputed by the scientific environment. Evocative of an enigmatic setting, of shrouds or temporary refuges, the deployment of these survival blankets represents an attempt to control the landscape by humans in a context of climatic upheaval. In an immersive work of image and sound, Fragile Monument explores the scales of temporality specific to the glacier, the water, the mineral environment and their entanglement with human rhythms. By questioning models of future ecologies, the work focuses on our complex relationship with an altered nature, where states of hybridity, vulnerability and sublimation are combined.
At an altitude of 2200 meters, the Rhone glacier has become both an object of scientific study and an important touristic site of the Swiss Alps. An eloquent indication of a predicted disappearance, it is covered with textile mosaics to protect it from solar radiation. If, according to the promoters of the project, these covers contribute to reduce the acceleration of the glacial retreat, this practice remains disputed by the scientific environment. Evocative of an enigmatic setting, of shrouds or temporary refuges, the deployment of these survival blankets represents an attempt to control the landscape by humans in a context of climatic upheaval. In an immersive work of image and sound, Fragile Monument explores the scales of temporality specific to the glacier, the water, the mineral environment and their entanglement with human rhythms. By questioning models of future ecologies, the work focuses on our complex relationship with an altered nature, where states of hybridity, vulnerability and sublimation are combined.
| Director | Jean-Maxime Dufresne, Virginie Laganière |
| Editing | Virginie Laganière |
| Sound Recording | Virginie Laganière, Jean-Maxime Dufresne |
| Camera | Virginie Laganière, Jean-Maxime Dufresne |
| Sound mixing | Nicolas Dubé |
| Music | Virginie Laganière |
Image tirée du film Fragile Monument // Image from the film Fragile Monument
Image tirée du film Fragile Monument // Image from the film Fragile Monument
Production
Virginie Laganière
In parallel to their individual practices, Virginie Laganière and Jean-Maxime Dufresne’s artistic collaboration has focused for nearly twenty years on the transformations of our built, natural and technological territories and the social realities that result from them. Anthropological in nature, their approach is based on a survey methodology developed during stays and residencies abroad. The in situ research and observation feed a work of the image at the confluence of documentary and fictional approaches. This is evidenced by their multifaceted installations in which video, sound art and photography interact with sculptural elements and architectural displays.
Supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts, their work has been presented in exhibitions, festivals and residencies in Quebec and internationally. These include the Galerie de l’UQAM, the Musée d’art de Joliette, Tokyo Arts and Space, the Studio du Québec in Rome, the EXiS Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul, the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing and the Helsinki International Artist Programme. In the summer of 2022, they will continue a research project entitled La Montagne radieuse that began in 2021 at the Programme principal de résidence de La Becque, in Switzerland.
Biographical notes provided by the film production team
Supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts, their work has been presented in exhibitions, festivals and residencies in Quebec and internationally. These include the Galerie de l’UQAM, the Musée d’art de Joliette, Tokyo Arts and Space, the Studio du Québec in Rome, the EXiS Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul, the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing and the Helsinki International Artist Programme. In the summer of 2022, they will continue a research project entitled La Montagne radieuse that began in 2021 at the Programme principal de résidence de La Becque, in Switzerland.
Biographical notes provided by the film production team
Jean-Maxime Dufresne
In parallel to their individual practices, Virginie Laganière and Jean-Maxime Dufresne’s artistic collaboration has focused for nearly twenty years on the transformations of our built, natural and technological territories and the social realities that result from them. Anthropological in nature, their approach is based on a survey methodology developed during stays and residencies abroad. The in situ research and observation feed a work of the image at the confluence of documentary and fictional approaches. This is evidenced by their multifaceted installations in which video, sound art and photography interact with sculptural elements and architectural displays.
Supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts, their work has been presented in exhibitions, festivals and residencies in Quebec and internationally. These include the Galerie de l’UQAM, the Musée d’art de Joliette, Tokyo Arts and Space, the Studio du Québec in Rome, the EXiS Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul, the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing and the Helsinki International Artist Programme. In the summer of 2022, they will continue a research project entitled La Montagne radieuse that began in 2021 at the Programme principal de résidence de La Becque, in Switzerland.
Biographical notes provided by the film production team
Supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts, their work has been presented in exhibitions, festivals and residencies in Quebec and internationally. These include the Galerie de l’UQAM, the Musée d’art de Joliette, Tokyo Arts and Space, the Studio du Québec in Rome, the EXiS Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul, the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing and the Helsinki International Artist Programme. In the summer of 2022, they will continue a research project entitled La Montagne radieuse that began in 2021 at the Programme principal de résidence de La Becque, in Switzerland.
Biographical notes provided by the film production team
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