For Animal Population Decline, Dominique Paul imagined a collaborative performance in which 150 young people dressed as animals - birds, insects, fish, mammals, amphibians, turtles, snakes - gathered in an outdoor space, "parading" while slamming.
Given its location (in Longueuil, Quebec), this project reflects a history linked to the intensification of trade development between Europe and America. From the outset, natural resources and a larger-scale economy came together. The environment was transformed: the settlement of territories and trade routes came to exist side by side. Waterways, including the navigable St. Lawrence River, guided the beginnings of this development... What can be said of the rest of the story, where economic activity, beyond the period of colonization in America, never ceased to grow and, beyond natural processes, led to the disappearance of species?
What Dominique Paul sets in motion is the establishment of political rhythms. This definition corresponds well to the slam (sound) layer of the proposed project; the plastic work (visual or simply haptic), which includes drawing, choice of materials, colors, shapes, cutting, as well as fitting and display within the framework of the event, amplify the rhythms that are implemented there."
- Excerpts from " Disappearing " by Chantal Pontbriand
Available in bookshops in August 2024.
