\Transcendence through the Artifice of Spectacle:/ Martin Beauregard's "Fireworks" p Ue^ by Camille Baker , ^A^ tHfett ^- For LIVE, he will perform "Fireworks", using a slide "^\ -b [[^ ^ V)i4 h > ^ t v u M 6 ^ projector and live sound effects. It is his intention to wipe j out wonder and make a big deal out of nothing. __J \jY\ \*x\, t j b K oV \^^v r Beauregard's previous work is child-like, using papier1 A r Q &/ leA osJ y mache, packing tape, corrugated foam and other low cost materials for his costumes, props and sets. It is full of I Wt/yr&s ^ over-the-top, amateurish, brightly coloured, crude/ garish , costumes that seem like homemade mascots and in them £-—lfr\ f V ^ ^ v u C his performances are very stunt-like, seemingly more goofy than meaningful. However, his use of low-tech L^A Of^__— materials and equipment is intriguing, but I'd like to see him in a few years when he has refined his techniques and content further.^J3> /^A\ is clear that Beauregard has thought about his works and conceptualized their profundity (or lack there of) with some self-awareness and humour. It is also evident that these garish, tasteless, amateurish and stunt-like elements are intended as part of Beauregard's reflection or statement on art, performance and society in its current state. For this year's LIVE, in his press release states, \ w) y- \Jr C o ^ ^ i ° * ( ^ ^ 1 \ • "... fireworks investigates the dimension forgotten _ 1 by the spectacle(entertainment), its failure(defeat... ^ ^ us[ing] the subtlety... of the deceit and the guile, mixing participation and laziness... the artist y ^ jyf^^pJ accentuates ... a reflection on certain values CT" conveyed by "the society of the spectacle(entertainment)... bringing to mind those interminable slideshows of vacation trips... the installation creates interplay of contradictions between the sensational, cheapness, and emotion..." f r L. .m , 1 A r n £ U Dv fc-A i l l l#~ W ^ ( \ ]) * i I Interested in slides as presentation in the sense of reviewing memories or as souvenirs because of their motionless or static aspect, Beauregarqi hopesjto suggest the memory of archaic cinema, or to inform a journey, as was popular in the 70s.; He feels that, unlike photography, slide projection allows for group imagination, creating a story, a route, continuity of time, preserved statically. i Beauregard sees "Fireworks" addressing the theme of "Altered States" through the projected photographed fireworks, reactivating the event, while sharing all the contradictions imposed by the chosen medium. He sought old technology to "rock the state enchanted with the - ^ crowd"; to highlight the unique quality fireworks events; to elicit a second reading: a caricature or parody of the state of the spectator. The French the word fireworks is translated from feux d'artifices, or artificial fire - although the fire or light is real and not artificial, Beauregard points out that fireworks were meant for their ability to dazzle, to deceive, similar to magic.iSo the idea of the artificial spectacle is inherent in its name, yet his piece represents or exposes this artifice in a more obviously. ) V Beauregard defines "altered states" in terms of his process and performances, by diverting or hijacking the viewer through spectacle and the chosen medium, distorting the spectator's state. Rather than creating a spectacular experience (experiment) of delight, he wishes viewers ponder, creating a critical distance for them, inducing a state of reflection; to take time and be conscious of the piece's inaction and irony, enabling a sense of memory and its souvenir. Beauregard hopes that as one enters the piece, it will initially surprise; be seen as ridiculous ; a powerful trick lost in the weakness of its translation, ^balloon will burst; Some may try analyze what's behind it (literally and figuratively). The curious will check behind the screen, then the performer will be revealed, creating the simulation; thus lifting the veil, the-end of OZ, exposing the artifice. Some will experience it like a state of dream, reflection, oneiric, intimate or calming. The piece is intended to create distance, wavering between enchantement and disenchantment. It could also be seen as humourous. i 1 I 9 Beauregard feels performance exploits and is successful in its poetry, the subject matter, its force, its energy, and the poverty of the materials chosen. Impotence and fate are recurrent subjects for hin\ Costumes, objects, machines, all built in a spirit of whimsy, and his fascination with explosions.j He confesses that, "The idea of failure is always present in my work... The more that it misses, the more it succeeds!... It is the idea of the hardly finished machine, which explodes. I put accent rather on the disproportion of the effort..." Beauregard feels people need to «make the bridge between criticism and contemplation ...by containing [them] in a state of enchantement, thus [they] must give up their sense of reality... to profit from feelings [of immersion] in the screen... When judgement sets in the illusion is also lost.» He believes spectacle too often holds the witness in a zombie state; larval and unable to respond or escape. j^-\ V o ( / ^ T > 0 r \ The perfprmers that have influenced Beauregard's,wortf the most >s the perfckmanc^roup SurVjyal Research \ Laboratories, l o c a t i n g ^ wo»Vbetween^lvage\ards\ ^ rob^t \A^TS anHvisual arts\using ifcie spectacle of \ Qxpld^ionk He i^teken witnttieir "Utopia of Mk^hine^" to ch^teN$pect&£les ofdisaster afrdv degradation, with ironicallyNedioilaand destructive eontenrx Artist Bio Martin Beauregard, recently graduate of the National School of Higher Studies in Artistic Expression of Bordeaux in France, holds a baccalaureat of Interdisciplinary in Visual Creation of the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Temiscamingue. He presented his works in solos in many centers of Canadian artists and took part in several exposures of group, events of performance and festivals of film and videos in Canada, in the United States, in France, in Senegal and in several countries of South America. He will expose in 2005 to the eye of fish to Quebec, Eyelevel Gallery in Halifax and Aceartinc Gallery in Winnipeg. Camille Baker is a media curator/ artist/ instructor living in Vancouver. A/o cow, i 1^ '?* (O j A * ^ aJr^et guA-1^' 1 *2. Oft ?. .r. 2- '