Marc Gauthier

The temporary exhibition The Refectory is a command of the Naval Museum of Quebec to Isabelle Laverdière. We must welcome the initiative of a military institution seeking a visual artist to create an installation to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. This “bold” [1] gesture is placed under the sign of fraternity transcending armed conflict.

Figure 1. Isabelle Laverdière, The Refectory [view of the installation], 2008.

At first glance, hearing is stimulated to create an evanescent impression. If the floor the building is usually made up of a concrete slab, both rigid and impersonal, here it is covered with a rough wooden floor. Big plates fit roughly one in the other. Their crackles are heard as visitors walk on them, recalling the sounds that probabaly animated ships of war centuries ago. Even better, these boards are slightly mobile creating instability, just like a boat on water. To this crackling contributing to the atmosphere is added a series of marine noises. David Dandy, Martien Bélanger and Alexandre Zechariah have created the sound environment. The ensemble is serene; sound and music are not of the military type, but rather meditative.

The temporality of the exhibition is ackowledged by a significant visual element. Thus, space is closed through mobile white canvases. It is the same structure that suberbans use to protect their car from the winter weather. Instead of using walls, the artist has tended those surfaces that move following air currents. It creates a reminder of the sails of ships of past eras in a subtle way. The incongruity of the installation is also reported by a game of Chinese shadows that is created when occupants of the Naval School roam the nearbycorridors of the institution. Fragility and instability dominate the stage. Another time in space has been created with these simple tools.

Figure 2. Isabelle Laverdière, The Refectory [detail], 2008.

The use of materials from the country anchors the work in the area of Quebec City. The old speaks with the present. The boards of the floor are made of planks from a stable and the furniture is covered with wool. Opposing these warm materials are the white plastic canvas walls the the use of glowing fluorescent lights falling from the ceiling.

The facility itself is an exploration of the theme of the refectory. At the beginning, it was a place of gathering where monks took their meals in monasteries. The term then spread to designate any room where a community takes its meals. In The Refectory, Laverdière places players of the maritime history of Quebec around the central table in a continuous dialogue through time. Six pairs of captains areopposed around the St.Lawrence River. The river is represented by a central table on which are placed artifacts and contempory ceramics. The historical figures assume their presence by chairs and their silhouette is cut on a mirror. On each seat is recorded the date of an armed conflict. Behind, the silhouette of the protagonist takes place over a text in which he outlines his views on the armed conflict. In this clever game ofcorrespondences, they are no longer simply two counts of fleet clashing but rather two visions of history.

Figure 3. Isabelle Laverdière, The Refectory [detail], 2008.

The first conflict the artist refers to is the battle between Kirke and Champlain in 1629. On the table are plates from the period and a valve found on the site the Abitation of Quebec. The ceramic creations from Isabelle Laverdière are alongside these historical treasures. For the French side, she created a plate where three vessels navigate on the bottom. For the English side, the dish contains eleven ships. Laverdière reinforces the message of numerical superiority of British forces by using contemporary creativity. This game on the forces involved is present in the various conflicts illustrated. It ends in the last confrontation during the Second World War, were submarines sail through the plates.

More precisely, armed conflicts represented in exhibition occurred in 1629 (Champlain, Kirke), 1690 (Frontenac, Phips), 1711 (Walker), 1759 (Saunders and Durell, Vaudreuil) 1779 (Haldimand) and 1942 (Fortin, Hartwig). The attentive visitor will note that the aggressors and defenders are all grouped on the same side of the room. They are British nationals or Americans facing of the French and Canadians.A work of art installed in a military school can hardly evacuate propaganda. Here, it is manifested by a sense of friendship side that trenscends the conflicts. Without evacuating the historical dimension, it is surprising that the horrors of war are not even mentioned once. No death is noted among the conflicts represented. We are rather in a duel of the mind where the fight is done by using good words and flowers. In a typical example, of thirty dead of the Phips expedition, zero are reported.

Instead of the horrors of war, the emphasis is placed on a camaraderie among sailors that goes beyond war. The torpedoing of the German submarine U-877 by the St.Thomas corvette illustrates this vision. Let us briefly recall the facts. In December 1944, two Canadian vessels attacked a German ship. As the German crew was forced to throw itself in icy waters, the Canadians recovered them. A relationship of friendship grew after the war between belligerents, especially first lieutenant Stanislas Déry and Deputy Commander Peter Heisig. The exhibition ends on this idyllic note.

In the context of a command in a particular context (the 400th anniversary of its founding Quebec) by a sponsor (Naval Museum), Isabelle Laverdière manages to sail successfully in treaterous waters. She achieves a tour de force, creating an atmosphere of instability and warmth in a rigid space. The visual metaphors are supported by an original use of materials from the country. Her ceramic creations support the exhibition of historical artifacts. Standing on the border between a marketing operation and an artistic creation, The Refectory remains, despite its defects, an incursion of contemporary art at the military. If only for this last quality, this work is worth a look.

- USEFUL INFORMATION -
* The installation The Refectory by Isabelle Laverdière is presented by the Naval Museum of Quebec until Nivember 15th, 2008. [map]
 
* Admission is free.
 
* Opening hours are available by calling the Museum at (418) 694-5387. 

- NOTE -
[1] In its accompanying document, the Naval Museum says it is a first in Canada.

- BIBLIOGRAPHY -
CÔTÉ, Nathalie. « L’art contemporain chez les marins ».  Le Soleil, [online], August 9th, 2008, (page visited on August 15th, 2008).
LÉTOURNEAU, Jocelyn. Le coffre à outils du chercheur débutant. Montréal, Boréal, 2006, 266 p.
STACEY, C. P. « Phips, sir William » in Biographi.ca, [online], 2000, (page visited on August 15th, 2008). 

Quebec-City lovers know that there is excavation work currently underway on Couillard street in the older part of the town, near the convenience store and the Temporel coffee shop.

What these lovers may not know is that this work is going on on a spot designated as rich from an archeological standpoint.

In a 1998 study, the firm Ehtnoscop stated that lot 022 shows masonry structure that was on a 1709 map. This building, built on the former course of the street, was built before that date. Some archeological works already found a stone structure and artifacts.

[Details, excavation work, Couillard street]

How does the city of Quebec treat this heritage? Easy: it uses shovels and scraps the stones.

Very sad.

And just to make matters worse, I’ll put up this picture of the Intendant’s Palace, the residence of the French governor of the colony. So there you have all the 400th-anniversary historical celebration you need, while going to the Paul McCartney concert.

Mea Culpa: User «P» on the French version of this post noted that water pipes werebeing repaired, not gas pipes.  

[Pêche interdite/No Fishing [Fishing prohibited/No Fishing], Thierry Arcand-Bossé, 2008, Quebec City]

Efforts to improve nearby ramps of highway Dufferin-Montmorency continue in the Saint-Roch district of Quebec City. The destruction of two ramps freed some space where a new park will be built: Xi’an park.

Since June, manhole covers decorated by Quebec artists have been put in place. These works of art are integrated into the street furniture of the city.

[Future Xi'an Park, 2008, Quebec City]

Non-profit organization Folie/Culture is behind this initiative. In a previous post, I related my visit to the workshop of artist Paryse Martin, who had shown me the design for her cover. The result is as pleasing as the drawing suggested.

[Sketch, Quand la nature fait naître des fictions [When nature creates fictions], Paryse Martin, 2008, Quebec City]

[Quand la nature fait naître des fictions [When nature creates fictions], Paryse Martin, 2008, Quebec City]

Did you know? Folie/Culture “seeks to inform, to raise awareness, and to promote in the area of mental health. It organises events that follow unusual directions in research while at the same time motivating reflection on questions relating to painful social issues.”

[Dérapage [Slippage], Cooke-Sasseville, 2008, Quebec City]

The idea of integrating a banana peel on laughs and to call it Dérapage [Slippage] makes one smile. It should be noted that Cooke-Sasseville appears to have a busy summer! The duo also participates in the Triennal at the Montreal Museum of contemporary art and in Quebec Gold, which takes place in the city of Reims (France).

You can download a map of the circuit by visiting the website of Folie/Culture. I also prepared a circuit on Google Maps.

[Circuit, Google Maps]

[Prière d'écraser [Please crush], François Chevalier, 2008, Quebec City]

Did you know? Xi’an park owes its name to the nearby street. It marks the site of the former Chinatown of Quebec City, ravaged when the highway was built. The city of Quebec also has a cooperation agreement with the Chinese city of Xi’an since 1999.

[Cité suspendue [Suspended City], Laurent Gagnon, 2008, Quebec City]

It would have been interesting to name the artists on their plates. At the very least, a panel indicating the intention behind the idea to passerbies would have communicated the intentions of the exhibit to a wider audience. Furthermore, the absence of a title takes away basic information that adds to the pleasure when watching the works.

Finally, the rust that has emerged quickly surprises me: are these works permanent or will they be withdrawn at the end of the year? An article [in French] suggests that they’ll stay in place until the end of their useful life. Folie/Culture says that the exhibit closes on December 31, 2008. In all cases, it would seem like their useful life is relatively short…

[Vertigo, Jacques Samson, 2008, Quebec City]

It is difficult to talk about this exhibition without a mention of the censorship which hit artist Martin Bureau. Indeed, his drawing of Queen Elizabeth II mixed with a reindeer head was censured by the foundry Bibby Ste-Croix (a subsidiary of McWane located in Alabama) and the city of Quebec. If the artist wanted “to make people talk”, it seems that critic is liken to “Debbie-Downers” in the Old-Capital. The censorship thus took place without raising an eyebrow.

The exhibition Manhole Madness is presented on Saint-Vallier street, under the ramps of Highway Dufferin-Montmorency, until December 31st, 2008. The initiative is an official event of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City.

Further reading:
* My post on the drawing from Paryse Martin
* My post on manhole cover art
* My circuit on Google Maps
* The site of the organization Folie/Culture
* Official map to identify the works
* Carte officielle pour repérer les oeuvres
* Des Photographs taken during the inauguration on June 2008
* Article in French from weekly Voir with a picture of the artists
* Canoe, in French, on Martin Bureau’s censorship