Counter-Motive 2011

Presented at the Exhibition and exploration centre of the Master's degree in visual and media arts at UQAM (CDEx), Counter-Motive is Chloe Desjardins MFA thesis show. This series of objects explores the idea of the impenetrability of the artwork: boxes that do not open, solid and opaque packaging, windows that prevent touching. The elements of this series are defined both in relation to artistic conventions and to a vocabulary constructed from ordinary objects and handling materials. The choice to use pedestals and showcases as devices amplifies the contrasts between the banal and the precious. The objects are highlighted by these displays, but their reading is blurred. The various material transformations and the displacement caused by the positioning of incongruous objects in a gallery context do not allow to get a precise idea of what is given to see.