Interventions
jenna maclellan
jenna maclellan is an artist, activist and community-oriented person. She is completing her final year of studies in Fine Arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design. In a symbolic gesture of solidarity and respect, and with the assistance of event participants and community members, she will unroll the red carpet during the opening ceremonies. Made with red clothes collected from people within our communities, the red carpet will represent unity and our interconnectedness. Working onsite throughout the week, jenna will foster a space for understanding and friendship by sewing red hearts onto people’s clothes and by making clothing repairs upon request.
SYN- Atelier d’exploration urbaine
From neglected leftover space to tightly controlled “junkspace”, the status of spatiality raises numerous questions, notably the relationship citizens have with their environment and how they use the latter. This is the vantage point from which SYN- engages in urban exploration, which is seen as an opportunity for intervention, research and reflection. By way of a simple device integrated into the camp’s daily routine, the group will foster socialization, random meetings and physical activity, to ward off sedentary inertia and to shake off the cold. The group will be on-site as often as they can!
Mathieu Caron - SQUAT
Photo: Mathieu Caron
Mathieu Caron presents SQUAT, a live, interactive work-in-progress in which he will build us a shelter akin to a squat, the simplest form of habitation. SQUAT aims to bring home the importance of having a roof over one’s head and the discomfort of cold nights spent without one, by integrating a Damoclean bed, that is, a bed of nails, which serves to convey the notions of fragility and fatality.
A parallel photo exhibit titled Habitat et photo, presented as a diptych, describes a vacant lot a squatter has claimed as his own, and the traces of his passage thereon.
Mathieu Caron’s work focuses on social transformation in the urban landscape. His critical and playful take on the issues of importance to him serve to shape his worldview.
Échelle Inconnue
Based in Rouen, France and constituted as a not-for-profit since 1998, Échelle Inconnue questions the whole notion of territory and the way it is presented. Its members adopt an inverse approach to that used for satellite and demographic mapping, to present a living space removed from commonly accepted and acceptable territorial contexts. Their projects are informed by their encounters with the populace, often socially excluded individuals, the homeless, itinerants or suburban youth. These encounters are so many testimonies captured in visual, sonic or written form, which are then contrasted to current mapping practices. “We hope our participation in Montreal’s État d’Urgence helps build a bridge of dialogue between the homeless of a French city and those of a Canadian city, as well as a mapping workshop which questions the side less seen of this city.