Hélène Lefebvre : Open Water [public projection]
August 1-10, 2019
Knot Project Space, 2 Daly Ave.
August 1-10, 2019
Knot Project Space, 2 Daly Ave.
Open Water [public projection]
Hélène Lefebvre
July 27th - August 10th, 2019
9pm-11pm
Nightly, except for August 3rd-5th
On the façade of the Les Suites parking garage
Visible in the vicinity of the Arts Court entrance
2 Daly Avenue | Ottawa
Hélène Lefebvre's 'Open Water' is the first part of 'Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics,' a sequence of public projections presented by SAW Video Media Art Centre, taking place from July-October at multiple sites, supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
More info about Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics can be found here: https://www.sawvideo.com/knot/projections/knot-projections-2019
We begin Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics close to home, sending a beam of projected light from inside the Arts Court to land across the street on the brick wall of the Les Suites parking garage. The result produces a large-scale video image over the gridded exterior of our neighbouring building, visible from the entrances to both the Arts Court and Ottawa Art Gallery in the vicinity of 2 Daly Avenue. Appearing just below an array of windows that open up onto the hotel’s swimming pool and gymnasium, passersby encounter Hélène Lefebvre carrying out a daring and demanding act of endurance in her performance video Open Water.
Open Water
For Open Water, Lefebvre examined the subject of winter, giving intense focus to the then temporarily frozen Ottawa River, known in these unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin territories as the Kichi Sipi. For a sustained six months, Lefebvre revisited the same precise location upon the river at regular intervals to perform observational, sensorial, and physical field research, ultimately translating her explorations into video form through the hand-held camerawork of Robert Cross.
Through her process of retracing the contours of a singular site, Lefebvre developed a vocabulary of movement that embodied her relation to the shifting behaviours of the river ice. Central to her approach to the place was the artist’s desire to cross from one side of the river to the other, producing strategies for movement that took form as flat horizontal crawling — scaling and pressing against the vast, opaque terrain.
As winter progressed, Lefebvre’s movement’s became increasingly propelled by an inescapable sense of urgency: with spring's approach, her possibilities for action and crossing were growing thinner, with the stability of the river fragmenting and surrendering to the coming heat. The result is a video that over its duration describes a slow seasonal transition, accompanied by a lush sonic treatment that covers an equally expansive auditory spectrum, from the micro-sounds of the body to the deep, distal rumbling of the sub-level current. Through this polarised navigation of scale and time, Lefebvre opens up an unsettled affective territory that is both determined and precarious - committing to a fiction that is slowly getting real.
Hélène Lefebvre
Based in Ottawa, Canada, Hélène Lefebvre’s practice is an inquiry into identity and alterity, all the while weaving links between visual art, culture, and society. The body in movement and sensorial active listening (epicentre of performance action) have been sustained interests of hers since Les Moissons in 2009. Recently, her work has taken the form of performance, installation and video. Her practice in corporeality takes inspiration from studies in visual art, contemporary dance, and authentic movement—a form in which improvisation is central.
Hélène Lefebvre
July 27th - August 10th, 2019
9pm-11pm
Nightly, except for August 3rd-5th
On the façade of the Les Suites parking garage
Visible in the vicinity of the Arts Court entrance
2 Daly Avenue | Ottawa
Hélène Lefebvre's 'Open Water' is the first part of 'Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics,' a sequence of public projections presented by SAW Video Media Art Centre, taking place from July-October at multiple sites, supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
More info about Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics can be found here: https://www.sawvideo.com/knot/projections/knot-projections-2019
We begin Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics close to home, sending a beam of projected light from inside the Arts Court to land across the street on the brick wall of the Les Suites parking garage. The result produces a large-scale video image over the gridded exterior of our neighbouring building, visible from the entrances to both the Arts Court and Ottawa Art Gallery in the vicinity of 2 Daly Avenue. Appearing just below an array of windows that open up onto the hotel’s swimming pool and gymnasium, passersby encounter Hélène Lefebvre carrying out a daring and demanding act of endurance in her performance video Open Water.
Open Water
For Open Water, Lefebvre examined the subject of winter, giving intense focus to the then temporarily frozen Ottawa River, known in these unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin territories as the Kichi Sipi. For a sustained six months, Lefebvre revisited the same precise location upon the river at regular intervals to perform observational, sensorial, and physical field research, ultimately translating her explorations into video form through the hand-held camerawork of Robert Cross.
Through her process of retracing the contours of a singular site, Lefebvre developed a vocabulary of movement that embodied her relation to the shifting behaviours of the river ice. Central to her approach to the place was the artist’s desire to cross from one side of the river to the other, producing strategies for movement that took form as flat horizontal crawling — scaling and pressing against the vast, opaque terrain.
As winter progressed, Lefebvre’s movement’s became increasingly propelled by an inescapable sense of urgency: with spring's approach, her possibilities for action and crossing were growing thinner, with the stability of the river fragmenting and surrendering to the coming heat. The result is a video that over its duration describes a slow seasonal transition, accompanied by a lush sonic treatment that covers an equally expansive auditory spectrum, from the micro-sounds of the body to the deep, distal rumbling of the sub-level current. Through this polarised navigation of scale and time, Lefebvre opens up an unsettled affective territory that is both determined and precarious - committing to a fiction that is slowly getting real.
Hélène Lefebvre
Based in Ottawa, Canada, Hélène Lefebvre’s practice is an inquiry into identity and alterity, all the while weaving links between visual art, culture, and society. The body in movement and sensorial active listening (epicentre of performance action) have been sustained interests of hers since Les Moissons in 2009. Recently, her work has taken the form of performance, installation and video. Her practice in corporeality takes inspiration from studies in visual art, contemporary dance, and authentic movement—a form in which improvisation is central.