Montreal, January 9, 2019 – The Cinémathèque québécoise will usher in the new year by presenting a work by multidisciplinary artist Martin Bureau entitled Les murs du désordre from January 12 to February 10. This interactive installation was produced following a creative residency at the Cinémathèque, in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). This tension-filled, moving work of social criticism and geopolitics puts the viewer in control of their own unique documentary experience.
Bureau’s installation is part of an interdisciplinary art project that draws on several areas: documentary film, video installation, painting, and geopolitics. Having begun life as a painting shown at exhibitions held in 2016 and 2017, the project will culminate in a Web documentary comprising six short films as well as text and visual content, to be launched on February 21, 2019.
Since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, never before in history have so many new walls between states been built around the world. The post-Cold War 1990s saw the rapid growth of globalization and opening of new markets, developments which suggested that borders and narrow mindsets were things of the past. As is well known, however, the events of September 2001 disrupted the course of history and set off a complex chain of violence framed by a new world order—one in which a sense of parochialism prevails.
And the more the world has undergone the process of globalization, the more it’s turned inward on itself. Over 70 walls now crisscross the surface of the planet.
Les murs du désordre (“walls of disorder”) takes a non-linear documentary approach to an interactive format. The installation allows spectators to trigger video and audio components out of sequence so that their experience is shaped by the specific path they take through the exhibition space. Accounts by people living along separation barriers in Palestine/Israel, Belfast and at the U.S.-Mexico border blend with ambient aural and visual elements expressing the political and geopolitical tensions caused by the barriers. An aesthetics of surveillance exists alongside the physical reality of the walls.
For more than 20 years, Quebec City-based artist Martin Bureau has honed an art practice that combines painting, video installation, and documentary cinema. He explores the intersection of geopolitics and conceptual issues bound up in the visual arts and documentary filmmaking. Through his work, he seeks to contribute to the critical discourse on social, geopolitical, environmental, and aesthetic issues.
“Martin Bureau’s most recent work suggests that he views politics as material that can be moulded, like sheet metal, wood or concrete. He works this material so that ultimately it can interact with the spectator’s body, who is confronted with the concept of a wall and its implications.” – Marcel Jean, Executive Director, Cinémathèque québécoise
“The NFB French Program Documentary Studio is pleased to help nurture the thought process of a multidisciplinary artist of Martin Bureau’s calibre, supporting his residency at the Cinémathèque québécoise and allowing him to see his creative vision come to life in a public space once again. The Studio is interested in the potential of interactive installations to take a non-linear documentary approach to exhibition spaces, and Les murs du désordre presents a remarkable opportunity to explore the most instructive issues raised by borders, be they real or mental.” – Nathalie Cloutier, Executive Producer, NFB French Documentary Studio
To learn more about artist Martin Bureau and his work, visit: http://www.martinbureau.com/installations-video/les-murs-du-desordre-2019/
Les murs du désordre project partners
National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Cinémathèque québécoise, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, SPIRA, Chaire Raoul-Dandurand, Galerie 3, Ottoblix, Rendez-vous Québec cinéma.
EXHIBITION SCHEDULE – Salle Raoul-Barré, Cinémathèque québécoise
Monday to Friday: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.
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About the Cinémathèque québécoise
The Cinémathèque québécoise is Montreal’s museum of moving images. Its mission is to acquire, document and preserve the world’s audiovisual heritage, with an emphasis on Quebec and Canadian works as well as international animation, and to make it available for cultural and educational purposes.
Follow the Cinémathèque québécoise: cinematheque.qc.ca – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
The Cinémathèque québécoise thanks the Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal for their support.
About the NFB
The NFB is Canada’s public producer of award-winning creative documentaries, auteur animation, interactive stories and participatory experiences. NFB producers are embedded in communities across the country, from St. John’s to Vancouver, working with talented creators on innovative and socially relevant projects. The NFB is a leader in gender equity in film and digital media production, and is working to strengthen Indigenous-led production, guided by the recommendations of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. NFB productions have won over 7,000 awards, including 20 Canadian Screen Awards, 18 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 100 Genies. To access NFB works, visit NFB.ca or download its apps for mobile devices.
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