Pavitra Wickramasinghe

The sea is a site of voyage, discovery and migration; it is an in-between place and a path to elsewhere. I want to capture the desire to be here and everywhere at the same time. I was inspired by reading about the disappearing skill of wave pilots in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean. Wave pilots known as ri-meto are specially trained in the ancient art of reading the waves by feel and sight. Our capacity for orientation not only allows us to navigate our surroundings; it also influences our sense of place, home and even our sense of self. Prior to couple of decades ago, navigation required interacting with the environment for clues to find the way: stars in the night sky, migrating birds or reading a street sign. Humanity has managed to travel the world and even into outer space using technology in defiance of our innate navigation skills. The act of migration, of moving from one place to another voluntarily or by force, evokes an awareness of citizenship and belonging. If here is both subjective and physical, what information do we need to figure out where we are?

DRAWING INSTALLATION, PEN ON PAPER AND LASER-CUT PAPER

Frontière is a sight specific outdoor sculpture of a suspended upside down boat containing floating lanterns. Its placement high above a forgotten corner of the city incites the fantasy of being here and everywhere at the same time. During the day, the floating boat will invite daydreamers to linger underneath, while at night the vessel will light up to welcome passersby to wonder in a space that is usually out of bounds.

PUBLIC-ART INSTALLATION- QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES, MONTRÉAL. SAILBOAT, WOOD, NYLON, METAL, PLASTIC, PLANTS, ELECTRONICS AND LIGHTS, 2017.

PRODUCTION AND TECHNICAL DIRECTION: WIREFRAME STUDIO
ELECTRONICS: PIERRE GAUDET
PROGRAMMING: JOSÉE BROUILLARD
PLANTS: ÉRIC CHIASSON

COLLECTION OF QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES, MONTRÉAL.

Au-delà de la terre/ Landless Longitude is a moving image installation of a series of light mobiles and video projections together compose a galaxy of islands, meteorites and stars. The work explores notions of traveling (as opposed to images of travel) and the fluidity of place. Inspired by Calvino’s stories set in space, I built a series of paper-sculptures of meteors integrated in to light mobiles. The mobiles project the shadow of each meteor on to the surrounding walls and as they travel through the space, they interact with each other multiplying their shadows, affecting the visibility of the video projections and creating shadows of the viewers in the space.

The sea is a symbol of voyage, discovery and migration; it is an in-between place and a path to elsewhere. For someone in an island, it is also the frontier determined by the tides and a boarder between here and there. Like islands, meteors are isolated places and instead of water, they are surrounded by space. Meteors are objects in constant motion, travelers without a point of anchor their orientation keeps shifting. The installation attempts to capture the restlessness of being earthbound and the longing for the cosmic journey.

MOVING IMAGE INSTALLATION, LASER-CUT PAPER, PLASTIC, METAL, ELECTRONICS AND LIGHT, 2016.

ELECTRONICS AND MECHANICS: JONATHAN VILLENEUVE

Drawing, sculpture and material study for Au-delà de la terre/ Landless Longitude.

INK, PAPER, GLASS, CRYSTALS, WOOD AND METAL, 2015

This installation uses moving lights to animate the shadows of folded paper- airplanes on to the surrounding walls. Each paper-airplane is mounted on a motorized mechanism with individualized lights and suspended from the ceiling, they move concentrically in a programmed motion. As the planes smoothly circle the space, their enlarged shadows are cast in mirrored movement across the gallery walls and the bodies of viewers.

The paper-planes are carved by a laser cutter based on classic wallpaper designs allowing it to cast shadows of the lace-like pattern. Wallpaper is background and never foreground and historically used to imitate something else (i.e. velvet, murals, wood, etc.). The metaphors of wallpaper are analogous of shadows in their allusions to deception, illusion and what is hidden. This project explores the moving image as an installation and possibilities of shadow as evasive yet suggestive and always mercurial.

MOVING IMAGE INSTALLATION LASER-CUT PAPER, PLASTIC, METAL, ELECTRONICS, LIGHT AND SHADOW, 2013.

MECHANICS: JONATHAN VILLENEUVE
ELECTRONICS: PIERRE GAUDET

I filmed the frozen boats along the river in Dawson City in December during the shortest days of the year. I was drawn to the remoteness, isolation and the darkness of the Yukon winter. Because of the absolute stillness of Dawson, almost nothing in the scene moves and they appear to be photographs (instead of video) as if time is standing still. The long takes asks the viewers to be patient and give in to the meditative quality of the work. These vessels left immobile on land creates a type of eerie still life.

VIDEO, LENGTH: 6 MINUTES, 201

SOUND BY NELLY-EVE RAJOTTE

This project explores the notion of still and moving images and human perception. I am interested in working with the boundary between fixed and unfixed that is exemplified in the ideology of cinema. Cinema historically has been a discussion between the notions of the still-not-moving and the still-yet-moving.

Each of the four windows has a lenticular drawing printed on clear acetate. And inside of the sightings box there is a diagonal wall with a printed wallpaper of vertical lines. When the viewer walks past the box, an optical effect will be induced making the still image appear to flicker. Because of the gaps between the line drawing (on the window) matching up with the lines of the diagonal wall (inside the vitrine), the image seem to flicker or move.

SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION FOR VITRINE, DIGITAL PRINT ON ACETATE AND PAPER, SIGHTINGS, GALERIE LEONARD ET BINA ELLEN, MONTRÉAL, 2014. 

This is part of an ongoing body of work started in 2012. These works start off as automatic drawings done with pen on paper. They are then used to create vector drawings, translating the organic hand gestures in to hard-straight lines. The vector drawings are curved in to paper-pads using a laser-cutter. Do to the process of the laser-cutter, the depth of the paper pad and the pages moving in the process of cutting, the final result is a drawing recording contingency of the hand and digital processes.

LASER-CUT PAPER-PADS, 2012-13.

PRIVATE COLLECTION.

This installation incorporates a video projection of the sea, a sculpture of a ship and a timed light. The video of the sea is made with animation and found footage. The sculptural form of the ship is made of natural and crafted crystals, glass and metal and the sails of the ship are laser cut paper with an intricate lace like pattern. The ship is based on British tea-clippers used to transport tea from Sri Lanka to Europe. The light turns on at certain moments to simultaneously reveal the ship, project its shadow on to the screen and momentarily erase the video projection. This project explores shadow as an integral part of video installations and the possibilities of light and shadow to hide and reveal and its interpretation require some level of imagination.

The amplitude of a line-level audio signal embedded in the video triggers the light. When the audio tone comes on from the video player, the light turns on.

VIDEO INSTALLATION, HD-VIDEO/ANIMATION PROJECTION, FOUND NATURAL AND GROWN CRYSTALS, GLASS, METAL, ELECTRONICS, LIGHT AND SHADOW, 2012.

ELECTRONICS: DARSHA HEWITT

The capsized boat was found by chance on the north east coast of Sri Lanka. It was my second visit to the country where I grew up in twenty years. While I had clear memories of where I’m from, it is of course very different from reality and I was moved to see it with eyes of an adult. The overturned boat is a reminder of the destructions of a resent past- a world left up side down.

VIDEO, LENGTH: 3:20 MINUTES, 2012
SOUND BY OLIVIER GIROUARD

LA COLLECTION D'ŒUVRES D'ART DE LA VILLE DE MONTRÉAL.