Jason Arsenault

The work C’est ta fête ! proposes a meditation on celebration in the form of an anti-celebration that asks, “What becomes of a festive moment supposed to be short and intense when it drags out?” This project focuses on making viewers go through an experiment that will test their body and attention span through a never-ending surprise. A wall projection shows individuals waiting. As one approaches the group, it becomes animated, singing, shouting its happiness and showing its joy… for nearly twenty-five minutes. Surprise turns into something else: a festive moment implying collective participation is somehow transformed into an individual event that one has to “endure” alone in time. Spectacle and ­anti-spectacle, ­spectatorship, narration, viewer participation in the production of a work, observed-spectator—these are all research components that go into Jason Arsenault’s practice. His work—essentially based on image, installation (media or not) and performative actions—draws from the idea of encounter; it has been widely exhibited.