This publication presents images from the exhibition Dans l’ombre de l’artifice (In the Shadow of Artifice), which was presented at Centre SAGAMIE the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the closure of exhibition venues, this event was virtually unseen by the public. Since the exhibition existed primarily in images for viewing almost exclusively on screen, this new virtual reality prompted artists to reflect on the relevance of viewing works of art and their materiality. Author Pierre-Marc Asselin has written a text in which fiction and reality cause us to lose our bearings. It is a book that highlights creativity against a backdrop of art criticism and digital anxiety.
Excerpt Dans l'ombre de l'artifice:
I know: it's a question that sounds like a provocation. But on the pandemic November evening it came to me, I was cold. My tea, brewed too long, was spilling the bitterness of its tannins. I was once again trapped in front of the screen, existing for images. My "friends" were showing off their latest formal experiments on the networks. Outside, a walker was being pulled by his black dog, reminiscent of Churchill's in my eyes, and I envied him for being able to go out at this hour. I was insensitive to everything I saw: the window, the screen, the police. I was profoundly indifferent. I needed to believe in something, and the question came as an answer: "When it comes down to it, does contemporary art need to be seen?"
