Fireworks (“feux d’artifice”)

Martin Beauregard

April 2 to May 1, 2004

Mickey Photo

Fireworks (“feux d’artifice”) are artifice in the sense of illusion and deception. The central piece presents slides of fireworks projected in a loop on a screen. Bringing to mind conferences or those interminable slideshows of vacation trips, slides enable me to sidestep the spectacular aspect of the event by offering another reading. In exploring the idea of the live event and of its representation I create interplay of contradictions between the sensational, cheapness, and emotion. What is left of the emotional charge of such a spectacle?

Sans titre

I want to wipe out wonder, make a big deal out of nothing.

I will do live performance with this installation.

I am interested in questioning the concept of performance as feat or achievement by representing something high-tech with low-tech methods. Hidden behind the screen like a theatre prompter, I will attempt to make firework sounds with a whistle and a balloon, lightly amplified on speakers. Also presented will be five large digital prints taken from computer screen savers found on the Internet, fabulous landscapes featuring rainbows in the foreground. I was interested in shifting the “wondrous” aspect of these colour photos by printing them out in black and white to give an ironic perspective to the magical aspect of illusion.

Nobody would dare call a rainbow ugly…

08 Blur complet