ATSA Le temps d’une Soupe, depuis | since 2015.
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ATSA: When Art Reaches Out

Anne-Marie Dubois
95 - Empathy Feature ATSA
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In this age of constant connection, virtual reality, and technologized relationships, humanity is increasingly confronted with the paradox of a ­dehumanized and solitary means of being together. Political and social engagement is no longer expressed by speaking out in solidarity in public places, but through strings of “likes” on social networks that have now become the vessels of 2.0 sociability. We have traded flesh-and-blood human ­contact for an artificial mode of empathy that is difficult to ­reconcile with the realities of the less ­fortunate, who, for lack of means, must still rely on the tangible presence of helping hands and benevolent smiles to brave their harsh reality.

This is the mandate that artist couple Annie Roy and Pierre Allard embraced in 1998 by founding Action terroriste socialement acceptable (ATSA), a non-profit arts organization whose vocation is to produce and disseminate artworks in the form of collaborative social interventions. And it is a mandate that Roy promised to honour following the death on November 25, 2018, of Allard, her companion in life and art, who “fought for peace [usant] art and love as his sole weapon.”1 1 - Annie Roy, “A Tremendous Shock,” ATSA, https://atsa.qc.ca/. In this sense, the Cuisine ta Ville event picks up from the États d’Urgence and Fin Novembre series to reflect upon the reality of ­refugees and immigrants. Its second edition will take place from May 9 to 12, 2019.

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This article also appears in the issue 95 - Empathy
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