Annie Roy et Pierre Allard
Co-funders of ATSA
photo : Martin Savoie

If we view society as a physical organism, there are clearly parts of this organism that are in dire neglect. For to leave one’s own, here and elsewhere, without shelter, without food, without love... is not very hygienic.

Without downplaying the seriousness of the H1N1 threat to many, we have to realize the disproportionate media coverage and financial investment thrown at fighting a potential pandemic, compared to that directed at the eradication of a flagrant problem which is killing thousands of people each day through hunger, insalubrity, violence, and so on. Not to mention the paranoia and fear which form the face of such coverage. Not very hygienic...

Society often confers to social hygiene a connotation akin to asepticization, by refusing to look its own dysfunctionality in the face. Thus, it saves its richest members from the quagmire by using the money of its weakest members, leaving the latter in their misery. Not very hygienic...

What is the role of Art in all of this? Aside from providing superficial entertainment and beyond the purely mercantile considerations related to such product, artists serve as the pressure valve and mirror for our collective and individual ills. They help us know ourselves. Without them, we become strangers to ourselves. Artists fulfill this role—provided they can overcome the staggering pressures of celebrity and ratings. Not very hygienic...

État d’Urgence promotes proper social hygiene because its participants deal face-to-face, help one another and discover one another. Art is the uniting principle here; it sheds light on the suffering, acknowledges it and offers strength and resilience!

Our associate artists, Sylvie Moreau and François Papineau, bring to the event their love for one another and their love of creation; their constant desire to understand one another, to open up to one another, to open up to you.

The remedy: From November 25 through 29, take your heart out for a walk in the open air at Place Émilie-Gamelin!

Sylvie Moreau, Pierre Allard, François Papineau et Annie Roy - Photo : M. Savoie