Public Vertigoes

Friday, August 31, 2012

Over the course of three weeks, I spent several hours a day in the arena where Baie-Saint-Paul’s 30th International Symposium of Contemporary Art was held. The 2012 event, titled I stilled vertigoes, was curated by Serge Murphy and featured twelve artists. It was mainly with them that I came into contact, chatting with them while observing and strolling around. I barely had any contact with other visitors who came in groups, most often in couples, and sometimes alone. But I was one of them and can use my personal experience to document the public experience created through the symposium. On this basis, I will tackle the complex question of the relationship between art and politics. I am writing here as a philosopher who has examined the notion of “public,” and who, in attending the symposium, found an answer to questions raised elsewhere. During the course of my wanderings, I was witness to both the successes and failures of the venture, the doubts of some and the rejections of others, which gave me a unique perspective on the evolution of the workspaces, the works, and the social nature of the event.

My first impression confirmed my initial misgivings: converting a hockey arena into a centre for artistic creation during the summer was made all the more difficult by the fact that the arena was divided into small zones in which the artists set up their studios. Many found it difficult to operate in such confined spaces, which seemed to undermine the symposium’s goal of bringing artists and public together for a five-week period. In theory, the event was oriented outward toward the visitor, the city, the region, and beyond; it was therefore paradoxical that it was held in a venue completely lacking a sense of openness. The box-like workspaces that compartmentalized the arena intensified the feeling of enclosure.