Biela Noc 8th edition in Košice
Košice, Slovakia
From September 30th to October 1st, 2017
Biela Noc is the biggest and most visited contemporary art festival in Slovakia.
Founded in 2010 in Košice then established in 2015 in Bratislava, Biela Noc embodies the desire to (re)discover an urban environment which is given a new dimension through art.
Molior has set up a new coproduction with the Biela Noc organization in Slovakia as a first of a total of three major events that have each presented several wide-ranging light works in public space at the scale of the city. The works by Diane Landry, Maotik and Robyn Moody have then been shown as part of the Slovak Košice nuit blanche, September 30, 2017.
This project has received support from the following institutions: the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and the Canada Council for the Arts. Molior would like to thank the Conseil des arts de Montréal and Les offices jeunesse internationaux du Québec (LOJIQ) for their invaluable collaboration.
[Molior]
Artists & works
Diane Landry
Mandala Labrador, Mandala Naya et Mandala Perrier dans la série Le déclin bleu
2002
Description
“3 different Mandalas are part of Blue Decline installation. Deriving from the Sanskrit word for ‘circle,’ a mandala is an artistic representation of the cosmos, and is used in Eastern religious traditions as a focus for meditation. Using the now-ubiquitous plastic water bottle, Landry’s mandalas conjure shadow versions of this spiritual symbol. Each of Landry’s mandalas is created from only one kind of bottle, and bears the name of the brand of water it once held, i.e., Mandala Labrador. In Mandala Naya, a laundry basket ringed with water bottles is attached to the wall. A tripod, supporting a light attached to a mechanized arm, stands in front of the basket. As the arm moves forward, the light shines through the holes of the basket and through the water bottles, creating a startlingly beautiful shadow that stretches across the wall. This is the reward for watching Mandala Naya for its entire one-minute cycle; just as with traditional mandalas, the time required to experience the work makes it an object of contemplation.”
Flying School and Mandala Naya (excerpt), brochure, Rice Gallery, 2005.
Created during a residency at Cypres, Marseille, in exchange with La Chambre Blanche, Quebec City.
Biography
Diane Landrywas born in 1958 in Cap-de-la-Madeleine and maintains her studio in Quebec City, Canada. She initially studied Natural Sciences and worked in the agricultural field for five years. At age 25 she shifted course, feeling it would be easier to change the world through a career in the visual arts. Landry received her BFA in Visual Arts from Laval University, Quebec, in 1987 and an MFA from Stanford University, California in 2006.
She has exhibited and performed extensively in Canada, USA, Latin America, Europe, China and Australia. Landry has also worked as an artist-in-residence in New York City, Montreal, The Banff Centre (Alberta), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Marseille (France) and Utica (NY). In 2009 the Musée d’art de Joliette (Quebec) published a monograph marking the first retrospective exhibition of her work, The Defibrillators. Her first American retrospective The Cadence of All Things was on view at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC in 2013.
In 2014, she was awarded the career grant Jean-Paul-Riopelle, offered by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and in 2015, she received one of the prestigious awards given out by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York. Her works are part of many collections. Landry is represented by Galerie Michel Guimont (Quebec City), Carl Solway Gallery (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Vivianeart Gallery (Calgary).
Maotik
Aeryon
2017
Description of the work
Aeryon is an installation that recreates the beauty of an aerial landscape view through an advanced navigation visual system which analyses data sources. It is an artistic interpretation of a surveillance drone vision in which the story line evolves according to the drone’s departure location.
The piece’s story line evolves gradually to create an environment in which various degrees of immersion modify the perception of the physical space it unfolds in. The multimedia environment invites the audience to live a contemplative experience in which the visual composition changes according to the virtual drone location, thus providing an ever-changing experience.
The installation is an “open form” that is unique and inimitable. It behaves as a system with a random creation process, in a range of settings defined by the activity of the real-time data analysis. Surround sound translates the images into a sonic experience that will plunge the public into the heart of this electronic landscape. All patterns such a mountains, oceans, forests or cities have a specific visual features. Other information such as the size of the cities, the number of inhabitants, wind force or weather forecasts are some parameters that determine the visual composition.
A production of ENCAC.
Biography
A digital artist based in Montreal, Mathieu Le Sourd (Maotik) focuses his work on the creation of immersive multimedia environments and generative visuals. His work has recently been presented in various festivals around the world, such as Mutek Festival (Montreal, Mexico city, Barcelona and Tokyo), Live Cinema in Rio, Plums Festival in Moscow, Signal Festival in Prague, British Film Institute in London and ARS Electronica in Linz.
As the head of Moment Factory’s interactive team in 2011, Le Sourd produced large-scale projects such as the multimedia experience in the new terminal of Los Angeles airport as well as the visuals for Nine Inch Nails’ world tour. In 2013, he produced the critically-acclaimed immersive multimedia performance DROMOS, which was presented at the SATosphere in Montreal as part of the Mutek festival.
Always in search of new challenges, Le Sourd designs his own visual tools by generating animations from algorithms and creating 3D worlds to transform perceptions of space. He collaborates with musicians, sound artists and scientists so as to pursue his research into the relationship between art, science and technology.
Robyn Moody
Wave Interference
2012-2013
Description of the work
The kinetic installation Wave Interference unfolds in the shape of a light wave. 88 neon lights appear to float to the sounds of an old organ. The wave fluctuates slowly, in a fluid movement, and it captivates through optical illusion effects. It invites one to undergo an experience of amplified sensorial dimensions in a mysterious atmosphere. It takes us into a suspended time, towards a meditative and fascinating state.
It not only has the power to transform our relationship to the site where it is presented, it also reveals unsuspected states both in our perceptual experience and on the level of the phenomena in our midst. Wave Interference refers to electromagnetic waves and their ubiquity.
Moody explains that we are typically oblivious to these waves until we have some detector (such as our eyes) to alert us to their presence. That we have the ability, through the use of these organic detectors on our faces, to effortlessly filter a portion of this mess of frequencies into a coherent image is a fact worthy of awe. The waves from every radio station, mobile phone call, wifi signal (and countless others) are around us whether we are detecting them or not.
Funding credits to: The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts.
Construction credits to: Rachael Chaisson, Ann Thrale, Rita McKeough, Tristan Zastrow.
Biography
Robyn Moody (b. 1975, Lethbridge, Canada) lives and works in Calgary, Canada. He takes a multifaceted approach to art-making, lately focussed on electronics, mechanics, installation, sound, and sculpture. Often humorous, often strikingly beautiful, and often hiding a dark secret, Moody’s work explores (in whole or in part) the complex relationships between technological advances, human belief and interpretations of the world, and humanity’s relationship with science, politics, and nature.
In the past decade, he has shown his work regularly across Canada, Mexico, Scandinavia and Europe. Notable recent examples include Transmediale (Berlin, DE), Lighting Guerrilla (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Werkleitz Festival (Halle, DE), Némo Biennale (Paris, FR), and Manif D’art 8 – La Biennale de Québec (Quebec City). Upcoming projects include the Bienal Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a new work for Nocturne in Halifax, Canada. He has twice been nominated for Canada’s Sobey Art Award, in 2010 and 2012.
