As I was wondering the halls of the 5th floor of the Belgo Building, I strolled by the Joyce Yahouda Gallery: boxes were still waiting to be opened and people seemed busy preparing the installation. When I came back later that week I was greeted with the same scene of un-packed canvases. This time I decided to read the information sheet. If you’re anything like me, you read the instruction manual after pulling your hair out. As it turns out Une installation au ralenti is an ongoing installation during which visitors are invited to participate in mounting the exhibition thus engaging in the tasks installing artworks and cooperate with the artist in his creative process. Viewers become not only artists but part of the artwork.
Massimo Guerrara is an Italian born multimedia artist, now living and working in Montreal where he is represented by the Joyce Yahouda Gallery. His interest lays in the creative process as art and human interactions. His installations generate encounters between himself and the members of the audience through spaces that simulate daily experiences (shared meals, manual work etc). These themes are also explored through other mediums such sculpture and painting which are also very present in the exhibition.
For Une installation au ralenti the process of the installation is the exhibition itself – and just like human connections it is slowly ongoing and always changing. The space of the gallery is transformed into a space for human exchange where the viewers are invited to participate in the unpacking and placing of the artworks. Traces of these interactions are recorded through remnants of food, Starbucks coffee cups and footprints. According to the gallery attendant who gave me a tour, even the trash cans are left full as tracking devices!
Sadly, the artist was out of town for my visit (and the appointment schedule is full!), however the presence of the artist and the exchanges occurring in this space are strongly felt through the ongoing art, unpacked canvases and tea cups left on the carpet. I felt like entering someone’s studio or living room – their absence creating an expectation of their immediate return. Some paintings are hung. Others seem to be waiting. Sculptures are placed on covered plinths as if put there temporarily or seemingly randomly scattered around. Yet all the pieces work together, as if telling a story. This feeling might come from the abundance of lettering in the pieces, alluding to histories we can’t quite relate and referring to themes of movement and the human body through anthropomorphic sculptures.
Aside from the main exhibition space, Guerrera has also saved a separate space for face to face interviews. In this more intimate area, the gallery is transformed into a salon de thé / meditation room. Indeed viewers are also invited to make an appointment for a private session with Guerrera exchanging ideas, meditation, sharing food and tea and creating collage sculptures. Receipts relating to Guerrera’s art making are glued together into a wing and what could be interpreted as a low seat. I was actually uneasy making interpretation at this point as it is still in the process of being created. The final creation is still to be determined during the last week of the exhibition.
To conclude, I recommend being on the look out for the final result – whether it be a finissage, a performance or a sculpture!
Joyce Yahouda Gallery, space 516
Massimo Guerrera
Une installation au ralenti
April 4 – May 4, 2013
www.joyceyahoudagallery.com
