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DORMIR DEHORS: TWO ORIGINAL MULTIMEDIA INSTALLATIONS
BY ARTISTS ANNIE ROY AND PIERRE ALLARD (ATSA)
At the heart of Place Émilie-Gamelin, two original monumental multimedia installations by artists Annie Roy and Pierre Allard will come to life as evening falls.
PARTICIPATE to our photographic campaign on the web #ATSAdormirdehors
The first installation is a tribute to the "anti-stars of the street" and their broken dreams, and a passing nod to Andy Warhol's "anti-film" Sleep, celebrating its golden anniversary this year. Interlaced mattresses suspended from a knuckle-boom crane form a star five metres in diameter, illuminated by the continuous screening of a film showing a homeless person as he sleeps outdoors in the city.
"The mattress, symbol of comfort and consolation in a home the homeless person does not have. The star represents the ray of hope that grows fainter with time. Just as in the Warhol film, we encounter inertia and are slow to act to change the situation, certainly a complex one, of the homeless person. We have chosen to reference a work by someone who left an indelible mark on the history of art; to deconstruct it by substituting the sleeping character played by poet John Giorno with a homeless person; and to screen it onto the uneven, fragmenting surfaces of the mattresses. This installation is a thumb of the nose to the celebritization of a society that prefers to fawn over shooting stars rather than show interest in serious issues such as the black holes into which street people are sucked." - Annie Roy and Pierre Allard (ATSA)
The second installation is anchored in the reality of those Montrealers who live in constant survival mode and struggling more and more. A slide show will be projected onto a giant screen attached to some industrial containers. The images show hundreds of anonymous homeless citizens sleeping outdoors, captured by the keen eye of our fellow photographers. Montrealers can contribute to the content of this slide show via #ATSAdormirdehors, being sure to adhere to ATSA's ethical guidelines: neither the homeless person appearing in the photograph(s) nor the spot where they are sleeping must be identifiable; take the photo(s) in a respectful manner, which means, among other things, discreetly and without using flash.
"When we conceived the very first État d’Urgence in 1999, and over 100 homeless people literally lived in our camp, their sheer number made us realize the full extent of the phenomenon. Viewing this slide show of homeless people sleeping outdoors in the city gives one the same rude awakening. Could we reach a critical mass of photographs that would transform the awkwardness of being a voyeur into an empowering awareness? We wished to denounce the unconscionable reality of those we spend most of our time being supremely indifferent to and build a culture of empathy that could bring about change. Making it possible for anyone to contribute their own photos via the social media is an incentive for us all to decry this state of affairs and take the time to fully comprehend the drama unfolding beneath our very eyes." - Annie Roy and Pierre Allard (ATSA)
ATSA invites Montrealers to contribute to the Dormir Dehors slide show...
...via the Web at #ATSAdormirdehors, and to thereby support its campaign to acknowledge through photographs the unacceptable reality of life on the street. Each citizen can post his or her own photos of homeless persons sleeping outdoors via the social-media networks. Please adhere strictly to the following ethical guidelines: Neither the homeless person appearing in the photograph(s) nor the spot where they are sleeping must be identifiable; take the photo(s) in a respectful manner, which means, among other things, discreetly and without using flash.
Post your photos at #ATSAdormirdehors or e-mail them to info@atsa.qc.ca.
See the slide show on Instagramm
