Anchored in the history of humanity and always on the cutting edge of current events, this theme combines many of the questions considered by TOPO – as much political and social as physical and technological.
The notion of border is rich in historical, political, psychological, and artistic connotations. In its contemporary dimension, it is increasingly seen as a point of contact and of negotiation rather than simply as a barrier. Like the philosopher Regis Debray, we wish to “think the border not as a wall (demolished for expansion, erected for protection), but as a skin, capable of breathing and thus of organizing exchanges within environments” (Éloge des frontières, Gallimard 2013).
A Program of Exhibitions
The program is organized around three thematic cycles composed of exhibitions in the TOPO showcase on the ground floor of a creative hub – the Pôle de Gaspé (a first glass frontier) – workshops, performances, and artist presentations.
Cultures, Languages, and Spiritualities: Beyond Borders
The first cycle brings together four artists from the plurality of the Americas who explore the reconquest of roots and heritages, through questions about memory and death.
Martín Rodríguez, La Ofrenda, media installation
November 1st – December 21, 2019
ULO, Conversation with Falling Spheres, audio-tactile installation
January 16 – February 15 2020
Rodrigo Velasco, Niyolchoca, digital and visual poetry
February 21 – March 28, 2020
Diego Briceño, Dupu, touch-screen exploration
Accessible on demand
Remix and Networks: Challenged Borders
The second cycle of Frontière presents three installations that question technologies and their impact on our lives and societies – notably through their capacity to blur the boundaries between truth and falsehood, documentary and fiction, living and non-living.
Sven, Plongeons, augmented reality photographic project
September 9 – October 10, 2021
Oli Sorenson, Landscapes of the Anthropocen, LED screens and social networks campaign
November 11 – December 26, 2020
Stéphanie Morissette, Meanders, immersive web art project derived from a VR experience
From January 13, 2021
Geopolitics: Variable Spaces
In the third cycle, the notion of geopolitics is explored through reflections on the associations between geography (human, material, territorial) and socio-politics, challenging spatial power relations in various ways.
Paolo Almario, Léviathan, interactive web art
From April 2021
Leila Zelli, Day to day (Au jour le jour), web art and video
From June 2021
Michel Huneault, On the Border, random and infinite documentary essay
From October 2021
A Theoretical Reflection
Seven authors have been invited by TOPO to think more deeply about borders for a retrospective and analytic publication (paper and digital) to be released in 2022.
Three authors have specifically addressed the three cycles of installation programming and web art projects supported by TOPO between September 2019 and September 2021.
Nuria Carton de Grammont, curator
Spiritual Matters and the Meaning of the Other
Paule Mackrous, writer
Remix and Networks: Challenged Borders
Mirna Boyadjian, curator
Geopolitics: Variable Spaces
Four other authors formulate a broader reflection on the notion of border according to different approaches: political, aesthetic, psychological, and technological.
Ricard Zapata Barrero, theoretician and professor
The Current Semantics of Borders: Some Political Insights
Chantal Pontbriand, artistic director, curator, and editor
Migration and Frontier: An Aesthetics of Change
Jean-Dominique Leccia, psychiatrist
The Notion of the Border: From Mental to Spatial
David Jhave Johnston, researcher and digital poet
Brain-Machine-Implants [BMI]: Art, Opsins, and Models (a few ethical considerations)
Videos and podcasts
Video on the exhibition Niyolchoca
Video on the exhibition Conversation with Falling Spheres
Video on the exhibition La Ofrenda
Past events
Radio frequency sound experiment workshop: Roger Roger, do you copy?… an introduction to radio art
- Saturday, December 7, 2019