HIROSHI SUGIMOTO,
1 .A. WALKER,
NEW Y O R K , 1978,
P H O T O N. ET B ,
50,8 X 61 CM;
PHOTO:
( H I R O S H I SUGIM O T O ) SO NrNA BE N D
GALLERY.
NEW' YORK

L e x p o s i t i o n d u CIAC p r o p o s e
Line division des oeuvres en sept
series, selon les SLijets specifiques
traites par l'artiste. C e p e n d a n t ,
telle qtie montree ici, la production
de Sugimoto semble sarticuler atitour de deux sensibilities distinctes.
Qtii plus est, cette bipartition s'impose d'emblee, des le premier coup
d'oeil. D u n e part, il y a les compositions a caractere abstrait et geom e t r i q u e - tin brin m y s t i q u e s —
qui, a l'instar des premieres experiences phenomenologiques de la
p h o t o documentaire, n o t a m m e n t
celles de Muybridge, documentent
le t e m p s en m o u v e m e n t , et de
1 autre, il y a les images hguratives
— h u m a i n e s et animalieres —, tem o i n s de la f a s c i n a t i o n t r o u b l e
qu'exerce sur nous (Occidentaux)
la notion du temps, qui documentent son arret et son historicite et,
par extension, la logique de l'artifice de laquelle lis participent.
D u n cote, done, le photographe
fait 1'experience de la duree reelle
d ' u n film p o u r en t r a d u i r e , par
s u r e x p o s i t i o n , la b l a n c h e u r et le
neant, de m e m e qu'il fait l'experience atmospherique de la nuit ou
du jour pour y capter dans le detail
les transformations t e m p o r e l l e s ,
egalement a travers line longue periode d'exposition. Ce procede empirique cree un ensemble de photographies qui portent en elles la
sensibilite de leur experience, du
temps de leur patiente realisation.
P A R A C H U T E

90

Elle est tantot vive et intense (les
ecrans cinematographiques) et tantot profondement meditative (les
horizons marins).
Et dans Lin e s p r i t totit a u t r e ,
S u g i m o t o d o c u m e n t e et rapporte
des faits observes. Avec les chairs
ciretises de Valentino, de Mae West
OLI d'un meurtrier condamne a mort
represente dans les instants precedant son electrocution, avec atissi
les decors didactiques et « na'i'vem e n t » realistes de scenes prehistoriques, il n'est plus question de
rendre invisible le visible ou son
contraire, mais p l u t o t de reiterer
la factice visibilite de ce qtii n'est
deja plus. II s'agit ici davantage d'un
commentaire socioculturel ironique
a souhait, qtii, par la consacree objectivite du dispositif photographique exacerbe le glissement delibere
dti faux vers le vrai. Ajoutons que
dans ce cas-ci, le choix d u n e pellicule noir et blanc contribute a insuffler l'impression d u n document
v e r i d i q u e . II suffit d ' i m a g i n e r a
quoi potirrait ressembler les couleurs du visage farde d'une Elizabeth Taylor en cire pour s'en convain ere...
Q u ' i l s'agisse des i m a g e s d u
temps continu ou de celles du temps
a jamais suspendu, ces photographies sont d'une remarquable qualite plastique, allant de l'impression,
a la presentation (presque precieuse),
avec les titres releves en bosse sous
chacune des oeuvres, en passant par

la saturation des noirs et des blancs,
la finesse des gris, et l'habilete avec
laquelle l'artiste rend la sensation
d'espace et de profondeur dans la
serie sur les salles de cinema, sans
parler, bien sur, de sa judicieuse
utilisation de la Lumiere. Soit, ces
photos sont belles. Mais combien
plus riches sont celles qui relatent
1'experience reelle du temps, celle
du p h o t o g r a p h e l u i - m e m e . Elles
h a p p e n t notre regard par l'assurance et la nettete de leur composition minimaliste et elles retiennent
notre attention par la sensibilite de
leur esprit tout en nuances, ou mille
details i n f o r m e n t des images en
apparence simples.
Devant les representations des
vedettes de cinema et des assassins
a peine moins celebres du nuisee
de cire de Madame Tussaud a Londres, on ne s'extasie point. Pas pkis
que devant les deux dioramas d u
Carnegie Museum of Nattiral History de P i t t s b u r g h . Le propos est
use. Jeff Koons et ses semblables
(bien malgre etix ai-je tendance a

ROBERT

croire) nous ont deja inocules d u n
puissant vaccin contre notre capacite d'eprouver de l'etonnement ou
de la des illusion face a l'insidieuse
omnipresence du kitsch dans notre
culture contemporaine. Pis encore,
ils nous ont gaves dti discours echo
d'une soi-disant critique de labsurd i t e de la c u l t u r e de masse q u i ,
p o u r « m i e u x » illtistrer l'enjeu,
faisait tout autant dans le kitsch
qtie son sujet. 11 fallait connaitre le
terme « d i s t a n c i a t i o n c r i t i q u e »
p o u r faire la difference e n t r e le
kitsch savant d'un bibelot grand
format de Jeff Koons et le kitsch
premier degre du bibelot-souvenir
qui l'inspirait...
En revanche, on n'hesite pas a
se rejouir devant les quelque trente
photographies des cinemas interieurs et exterieurs et des paysages
qui font se toucher del et mer. Elles
sont asstirement singLilieres. Les
i m a g e s d'ecrans p o r t e n t en leur
centre un rectangle lumineux - un
espace vierge, un lieu de reflexion
hors-temps — se decoupant sur des
fonds informes par leur environnement construit ou par la specificite
t e m p o r e l l e de leur a r c h i t e c t u r e
q u i , en fait, n'en a pas, p u i s q u ' i l
s'agit d'exempies des styles «neo»
tous azimut (les salles art deco font
exception) qui firent la marque des
cinemas americains des annees 1920
et 1930. Tandis qtie les vLies de
mers exhibent un esprit, si ce n'est
Line facture, pictural - les images
bascLdent entre les paysages e m b r u m e s de Turner et les abstractions texttirees de Rothko, et, dans
le cas des plus sombres, elles rapp e l l e n t m e m e les b i c h r o m e s de
Molinari. Mais e'est toujotirs tine
photo qu'on regarde, avec son support en papier, son grain, ses noirs,
ses blancs et ses g r i s , et avec la
transparence de son objectif qui
enregistre et documente ce qui sans
cesse passe.
- J E N N I F E R COUELLE

SAUCIER

Galerie Optica, Montreal, March 23 - April 22
Tuned to the channel of their
choice, viewers enter the gallery to
check out a new show. Slotted for
prime-time viewing, Robert Sau-

cier's erratic scanners expose the
speed and coherency feature prod u c e d by m e d i a t e d t e c h n o l o g y ,
Entering the space activates a mo-

PARACHUTE, Robert Saucier, DX Raiden, pages 54 a 56. no. 80. octobre a decembre

tion sensor which in turn initiates
the slow progress of the two pieces,
as they work up to an o p t i m u m
velocity of m o v e m e n t before becoming dormant again. Alluding
co a change in t h e p e r c e p t i o n of
time, both pieces reference dynamics of chronological registration.
Piezo is a ten-toot metronome with
a bulb attached. Overhead, an arc
ot seven solar panels rotates at a
d i l a t o r y pace w h i c h m e a n s t h a t
when the p e n d u l u m swings, the
bulb feeds the solar panel and produces a t r a n s i e n t b u r s t of noise.
T h e solar panels are connected to
cheap, pocket-size transistor radios,
so as the arch or silicon slices reflects
the swing of the light, the panels
activate the radios. This meeting
of f u n c t i o n and form, however,
only lasts for a short time. The panels are always moving, r u p t u r i n g
t h e sound as the m e c h a n i s m s of
movement work incongruously.
Surfing is the other piece of the
show. Here the bulb is attached to
a cord, which again slowly works
u p to a flowing circular m o t i o n ,
energizing the cells which stand
twelve inches apart. The light loops
t h r o u g h several solar eclipses before quickly deactivating its optim u m circulation. Even at its peak,
w h e n the radios are activated seq u e n t i a l l y to Radio-Canada, the
narrative conducted by the twentyfour piece ensemble is fractured by
the disruption of silence, which is
caused by t h e gaps b e t w e e n the
cells.
T h i s fracture of narrative is a
relatively new direction for Saucier.
H e has used solar p a n e l s in two
previous pieces, which marked
a shift in his object p r o d u c t i o n .
Whereas a concern with the narratives of technology persists, Saucier
has altered the formula he utilized
to critique the military's justification machine. The mechanized boats
and trains which previously propelled overtly political notions of
technology - i.e., Western ideology, as it is embodied in the notion
of " d e v e l o p i n g n a t i o n s , " w h i c h
places its agenda ahead of the wishes
of those it seeks to upgrade while
defining a rational self-identity have been replaced by conspicuously low-tech objects.
A p p r e c i a t i n g the tact that by
p u r s u i n g specific ideological orie n t a t i o n s , this work may reflect

ROBERT SAUCIER, P I E Z O , 1994-95, INSTALLATION VIEW, PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS,
TRANSISTOR RADIOS, M O T O R S , SPOTLIGHT, W O O D , METAL,
P H O T O : R I C H A R D MAX TREMBLAV, COURTESY GALERIE OPTICA.

r u p t i o n s i l l u m i n a t e s the gallery
along the lines of Critical Art Ensemble's insight that "there can be
no place for gaps that mark discrete
units in the society of speed." Thus
the light which falls between the
discrete spaces of the solar units illuminates rupture as an economic
process, one which subsequently
drives the cultural condition. It is
no coincidence that the discourse
of postmodernism is bound around
the tenets of fragmentation, cliversity, non-linearity and the unchaining of narrative. The uncoupling of
binaries reflects a culture mediated
by deflective interruption. Interruption is a strategy which allows just
enough time to read the credit card
numbers before the next shape of
the future is handed out and plunges
us i n t o a d e m o g r a p h i c a l l y projected void. It is this cyclical motion of product foreplay that holds
t h e mass p u b l i c in a s t u t t e r i n g
loop state of info-interruptus.

culture's sacrifice of contingency's
possibilities, both pieces in the exhibition play upon the idea of the
circuit. Their lack of direction is intended to derail technology's idea
of progress. In a conversation with
Saucier, he cited the Internet and
the drive to access information as
a cultural condition influencing his
latest work. By connecting relatively
low-tech transistors and their comp o n e n t s with the m o v e m e n t s of
viewers' bodies, the stuttering motion of these pieces dissolves the
coherent message of technology as a
ubiquitous developer and presents
the language of electronics as a deification of particular info-rhetorics.
H i s refusal to use t h e l a t e s t
Internet browser in the software/
hardware dualism replies a speculative "No" to the urging c'mon of
the fully rammed joystick advertisement. For it is in and around
these advertisements that technology calls us. I n t r o d u c i n g advertisements of silence, these pieces
work to divert our conditioned reception of the info (as) c o m m e r cial. Sander's technology ot inter-

Alvin Toffler recognized this
twenty-five years ago when he cited
that w h e n "events occur at rates
too fast for us to follow, we are re55

duced to sampling experience at
best." Toffler accurately predicted
techno-culaire's music and art production, while recognizing che induction of a schizophrenic network
as the prime associative function
in an era of "information overload."
Sander's works disarrange Toffler's
definition of schizophrenia as "ideas
and words that ought to be linked
in the subject's mind, which are not
and vice-versa," and indicate a dynamic shift in the perceptual and
relational manner in which people
t h i n k . T h u s w h a t " o u g h t to be
linked" is no longer a process whereby narratives make sense through
the reception of ideas and information from official storytellers, e.g.,
the church. Rather, there is a cutt i n g of links and the subsequent
feeling of disorientation which creates a desire to appear to be moving
in a forward direction. It is this
ethos of progress that produces the
hard sell and drive to own a mainframe that processes a m a x i m u m
of information into a streamlined
pattern. Understanding is less qualified by the time of reflection than
it is by the speed of reception. The
plugging of (non-)rerlexive time is
an essential tactic in the formatting
of technology's material and informational addiction.
R e a l i z i n g t h a t serial m o t i o n
would dimly reflect this electronic
p r o c e s s , Piezo and Surfing play
with the notions of technological
consistency and the singular equation of efficiency through speed.
In reference to Robert Rauschenberg's use of radios in the 1960s,
Saucier's work is a volte-face. Whereas Rauschenberg's Orach (1965) required covert technology, Saucier
a n n o u n c e s a revealing low-tech
maxim which does not reflect the
alienation of high-tech's framed
surfaces. B o t h pieces were activated by bodily movement but the
slowness of their motions made it
a m b i g u o u s as to w h e t h e r or not
the audience's actions influenced
the kinetics of the work.
Saucier's attitude towards technology can be seen in his contradictory attitude towards electricity. The solar panel's function to
harness natural energy, yet here
electricity is presented as an overflow. The artist views his position
to be one that displeases both adv o c a t e s a n d c r i t i c s of m o d e r n
V C

rl U T E

8

0

technology. His unwillingness to
support either side runs concurrent
w i t h his use of t e c h n o l o g y as a
means to question the mechanisms
that privilege the circuited narratives of informational speed and
coherency. Recalling Thomas Pynchon's c u t - u p style of w r i t i n g , in
which incongruous pieces of text
relate multi-layered tales. Saucier
p r o p o s e s a r e l a t i o n a l q u a l i t y in
q u e s t i o n i n g the processes of u n d e r s t a n d i n g , where the emphasis
is on how we move b e t w e e n and

KEVIN

surrounding popular knowledge.
T h e d r a w i n g s of early E u r o p e a n
anatomists Andreas Vesalius and
Regnier De Graaf provide "raw material" for an exploration of the relationship our culture mythically
maintains between "sex" and "nattire." In this familiar schema, the
body and nature are seen as participating in a fundamental materiality which is both inert and obscure,
a dark realm opened by the light of
a scientific gaze.
"Dissecting One's N a t u r e , une
exposition d'histoire naturelle" consists of three installations grotiped
t o g e t h e r in the gallery, the parts
existing as m o m e n t s in the same
project. Together, they present a
complex, sometimes ironic array of
naturo-historical views of the body,
sexuality, and nature. Otitside the
door, a drawing by Vesalius transferred onto the wall displays a table
laden with the tools of the anato m i s t , a grisly display of knives,
saws and probes. This image suggests a brutality of methodology but
the installations within frame their
material aesthetically in a darkened
space which feels genteel and theatrical.

m a k e sense of t e c h n o l o g y . T h i s
suggests a sutural mode of storytelling, where the links of narrative are defined by the silence between the words. For Saucier, it is
in these spaces where the editing
and channeling of perception take
place, and where he chooses to electrify the schizophrenic thread of
random connection and weave patterns in the fabric of information.
-

DX

RAIDEN

KELLY

Galerie Oboro, Montreal, March 25 - April 23
Here in the West, the tree has implanted
itself in our bodies, rigidifying and stratifying even the sexes.
— Deleuze and Guattari,
A Thousand Plateaus (1980)

mythologies of knowledge. These
mythologies can be traced in part
to the educational project of natural history m u s e u m s which s i m plify and "elucidate" scientific con-

Entering Kelly's installation, the
first element the viewer encounters
is a triptych of paintings suspended
in a circular configuration, entitled
Swamp Species. When Human Beings
Turned into Plants. In each of three
curved images, an anatomical fragment (specifically, of human genitalia) grows or, more aptly, floats
in a slimy minimal landscape. The
conflation of the botanical and the
anatomical here stiggests a proliferation of (albeit already anthropomorphisized) means of reproduction. There is a baroque, even kitsch
aspect to this misplacement. N a t ural history e x h i b i t o r s , b e n t on
creating a "context" for artifacts in
order to heighten their educational
effect were (are!) great producers
of inadvertently grotesque and abstird scenes. Kelly's dioramas constitute a deliberate perversion. His
"primordial landscape" acts as a site
of original wholeness, m a r k i n g a
r e t u r n to integrity, b u t also as a
space of multiplicity and productive
chaos, non-hierarchical, unformed,
and self-organizing.

IN KELLY, D I S S E C T I N G O N E ' S N A T U R E . 1995, INSTALLATION VIEW;
P H O T O : DENIS FARLEY, COURTESY GALERIE O B O R O .

In the current era we are witnessing the advent of museums without objects, as robotics and image
technology enable a seamless nexus
of i n f o r m a t i o n and style. W h i l e
viewers adapt readily to these new
contexts, the information transferred
there bears traces of other frameworks. Stated differently, the aspiration that technological linking
will supercede our dependence on
dichotomies is Utopian in light of
the viewer/user, who continues to
p a r t i c i p a t e in pervasive p o p u l a r

P A R A C H U T E

SO

cepts for a lay audience. More than
a century after its heyday as an instrument of European colonialism,
the museum itself may be becoming only an artifact, the symbol of
an obsolete regime of k n o w l e d g e
which privileged the study and classification of the material world.
In his r e - f a b r i c a t i o n s w h i c h
blend the objects and methodology
of anatomical science and of natural history museums, Kevin Kelly
foregrounds the archaic and persistent quality of the frameworks

P r o c e e d i n g from t h e r e , t h e
viewer encounters Terne Orificiuw,
an a n t h r o p o m o r p h i z e d m o u n d
56

of inert soil, the s u m m i t of which
displays a succession of magnified
human orifices on a buried video
screen. This oracle, which stands
about waist-high, emits a soundtrack of growling, organic rumbles.
Reminiscent of materials-centered
works of earlier decades, this piece
seems to poke fun at the symbolism of "earth," and of the expectation that "she" will speak to "us."
The orifices represented are those
of the artist's own body, a fact intended to subtly challenge our assumptions. Kelly's attitude is ambiguous, though, and the irony of
the e a r t h - h u m a n relationship in
this piece remains Linresolved.
In a n o t h e r corner s t a n d s t h e
third element, a large, framed and
back-lit kodalith image of converging rows of trees, before which sit
two two-sided l i g h t - b o x e s w i t h
t i n t e d anatomical reproductions
from De Graaf, again of genitalia.
The shiny surface of the large image reflects ghostly afterimages
from the rear screens of the lightboxes. These reflections glow like
coals in the b r o o d i n g , r o m a n t i c
black and white landscape. Also
entitled Dissecting Ones Nature, this
piece presents the differentiation of
the sexes as a horticultural problem
akin to that of cultivating uniform
and orderly forests, reflecting the
(northern) European origins of the
dilemmas and mythologies around
which the work revolves.
While Kelly's works foreground
nattire, the term enjoys a troubled
stattis throughout. By repeatedly
placing nature in relation to physiology, he insists on its human importance. But the elements of "Dissecting One's Nature, une exposition
d'histoire naturelle' fall within a traditions of landscape painting, landscape photography and the use of
the "earth" as a m e t a p h o r for the
body. These aesthetic means signal
the inevitability of a human viewpoint in representations of nature, a
kind of human-tinted filter through
which all images must pass.
Layered u p o n , or perhaps entangled within this humanist bias,
is the code of gender. Reworked by
Kelly, Vesalius' diagrams deprive
the penis of its phallic status by pluralizing genital configurations, neutralizing their dichotomous formulation as presence and absence. The
gender of the genitals becomes in-