The creative research lab Grupmuv (founded in 2008 by three visual and media arts UQAM professors) organized a fascinating exhibit at Galerie B-312, presenting works by Ælab, Michel Boulanger, Thomas Corriveau, Katja Davar, Andrée-Anne Dupuis Bourret, and Florian Wüst.

The show, titled Marqueurs de subduction (Markers of Subduction), combines animation, drawing, and sculpture to examine the relationship of modern society with the environment. Subduction is a geological terms which refers to the process of one tectonic plate pushing another into the Earth’s mantle. This imperceptible, subversive movement is a reference point for the artists, who draw parallels with humanity’s stealthy destruction of nature, and the invisible threat of nuclear contamination.

I was captivated by the animations, some projected on the gallery walls, some presented on small flat screens. Particularly outstanding is the magical flow of traditional drawing techniques and computer animation in Michel Boulanger’s work Terre blanche. Eerily surrealistic, the camera pans across an abandoned farm, then captures the flooding of a rural bungalow. It is a dreamlike apocalypse, beautifully sketched in pencil by a practiced hand. The dialogue between the romantic landscape drawing and sophisticated computer technology is both fascinating and quietly tragic. While the accompanying voice reading poetry is meant to add another layer of gravitas I found it to be distracting; the disastrous drama of the quiet destruction depicted in the animations carries more impact during the intermittent moments of silence.

The animations are complemented by a series of black and white drawings by Florian Wüst, referencing the anti-nuclear demonstartions in Germany during the 1970s and 80s, and an installation piece by Andrée-Anne Dupuis Bourret who was inspired by 3D topographic models and our understanding surface and interface.

Marqueurs de subduction is an elegant study of movement, be it tectonic, political, or visual.

Galerie B-312, space 403
Grupmuv
Marqueurs de Subduction
October 15 – November 12, 2011
www.galerieb-312.qc.ca