EIM 2019 / MÉRIOL LEHMANN / SATELLITE PROJECTS - CREATIVE RESIDENCIES AND WORKS IN THE PERIPHERY / 308 LOTS

Opening reception : Wednesday, July 24, 2019 ‑ 17h

308 lots (2019) – Photo, video and sound installation

Mériol Lehmann’s 308 lots consists of a body of photographic, video, and sound works made from data and image collections on dairy farms in the Compton area. This process of observation, bordering on surveillance, traces the portrait of a community and a territory in transformation, affected by the modification of agricultural practices in rural areas. Accustomed to an idealized image of the countryside, we are generally the willing consumers of a rural propaganda that is on the fringe of reality. The impression that digital technology does not exist in rural areas is also a myth. This false idea is hidden behind our ignorance of precision agri-food technologies that produce a colossal amount of data. These technologies are part of a fundamental movement associated with the automation and industrialization of agriculture and have a real impact on rural heritage. 308 lots explores a whole part of Quebec’s rural reality, which is thus monitored and put into perspective. With digital technology comes the infiltration of new values that unknowingly transform the course and the heart of things.

Satellite projects – creative residencies and works in the periphery

For the first time since the beginning of EIM, Sporobole created bridges with three regions of the Eastern Townships on the outskirts of Sherbrooke: Saint-Camille, Compton, Valcourt and Mont-Mégantic. These bridges took the form of in-situ creation residences where artists were invited, in May, June and July, to conceive a creation project anchored in the community. With the punctual contribution of citizens in various forms, in connection with the projects, the artists produce works that put into perspective certain distinctive values that help define these regions. Whether it is a question of mobility, precision agriculture, robotization of agri-food processes, transformation of the landscape or connected territories, the axes of reflection that have given shape to the projects are the common threads that allow artistic creation and the specificity of the contexts to be linked together.

Each in their own way, these projects also call upon the notions of connection, transmission, surveillance, capture, observation, infiltration and invasion, which constitute the reflective foundations of this 5th edition of EIM.

Saint-Camille :: Isabelle Gagné (QC-CA) – Hektor(2019)
Compton :: Mériol Lehmann (QC-CA) – 308 lots (2019)
Valcourt :: Alexandre Castonguay (QC-CA) and Mariangela Aponte Núñez (CO) – Agit P.O.V. (2012-)
ASTROlab du Mont-Mégantic :: Jean-Pierre Aubé (QC-CA) – From Mont-Mégantic to exoplanets (2019)