(c) Work: Chloë Lalonde, Photo: Alexis Bellavance
Away-from-keyboard
(c) Chloë Lalonde
Away-from-keyboard, 2019-2022
site-specific installation and performance, dimensions variable
In a refusal to use plastic paint and non-biodegradable materials, and stemming from a research paper I wrote on the material culture of paint and another on [sub]urbanisation of so-called Laval / île jesus / “jardin de montréal,” I have been experimenting with making my own pigments and watercolours, out of my own food waste and plants that grow in my parents’ backyard in Laval, or around me wherever I am. Sustaining this practice during my recent move to Vienna has been difficult, and I am slowly finding myself grounded again, thanks to the Danube, the chestnut trees, and things I’ve found in between.
During my undergrad, I created a solid library of material alternatives that are zero waste, biodegradable and low-cost. Though meanwhile, balancing time to practice and work proves difficult. As I was working - teaching, facilitating, editing, writing and producing - more than I was “practising,” the distinction between these various types of work became more and more unclear. So I chose to push that. Moving to Vienna for my MA, I went from working a lot to not working at all, very quickly.
When my line between art and work blurred, I lost sight of a very human side, a living practice. On my breaks I would weave, away-from-keyboard, while listening to podcasts - mindlessly, trying to build up a canvas to paint on. I never got there. Weaving takes time, and when the only time is during your work-from-home breaks, there just isn’t enough of it. So here I am, stuck on this idea of the performative act of making, of weaving my own canvases, surfaces. I just need to get this out of my system - then I’ll go back to painting again. This is surface tension, surface tension between art and work, where atoms become picks and picks become pixels. Performativity for the sake of performativity, for the sake of overcoming obstacles, nodding to all types of work, the outfits we wear when we’re working, and the drag of it all.
This performative practice is also a place to put things. Things are collected, accumulated, so the weaving act itself becomes an embodied practice. A painting. It embodies everything. From the podcasts I listen to during my “work” break[s], the documentaries, the netflix shows, the music, the sounds of silence, the colours of the noise, the gestures of care and obstacles and tension along the way.
Instagram @ihooqstudio
website: chloelalonde.ca/
Away-from-keyboard, 2019-2022
site-specific installation and performance, dimensions variable
In a refusal to use plastic paint and non-biodegradable materials, and stemming from a research paper I wrote on the material culture of paint and another on [sub]urbanisation of so-called Laval / île jesus / “jardin de montréal,” I have been experimenting with making my own pigments and watercolours, out of my own food waste and plants that grow in my parents’ backyard in Laval, or around me wherever I am. Sustaining this practice during my recent move to Vienna has been difficult, and I am slowly finding myself grounded again, thanks to the Danube, the chestnut trees, and things I’ve found in between.
During my undergrad, I created a solid library of material alternatives that are zero waste, biodegradable and low-cost. Though meanwhile, balancing time to practice and work proves difficult. As I was working - teaching, facilitating, editing, writing and producing - more than I was “practising,” the distinction between these various types of work became more and more unclear. So I chose to push that. Moving to Vienna for my MA, I went from working a lot to not working at all, very quickly.
When my line between art and work blurred, I lost sight of a very human side, a living practice. On my breaks I would weave, away-from-keyboard, while listening to podcasts - mindlessly, trying to build up a canvas to paint on. I never got there. Weaving takes time, and when the only time is during your work-from-home breaks, there just isn’t enough of it. So here I am, stuck on this idea of the performative act of making, of weaving my own canvases, surfaces. I just need to get this out of my system - then I’ll go back to painting again. This is surface tension, surface tension between art and work, where atoms become picks and picks become pixels. Performativity for the sake of performativity, for the sake of overcoming obstacles, nodding to all types of work, the outfits we wear when we’re working, and the drag of it all.
This performative practice is also a place to put things. Things are collected, accumulated, so the weaving act itself becomes an embodied practice. A painting. It embodies everything. From the podcasts I listen to during my “work” break[s], the documentaries, the netflix shows, the music, the sounds of silence, the colours of the noise, the gestures of care and obstacles and tension along the way.
Instagram @ihooqstudio
website: chloelalonde.ca/
Fact Box
Away-from-keyboard
Categories
Part of
Date
June 02, 2022, 17:00h
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Students
- Chloë Lalonde (participating artist)
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Alumni
- Chloë Lalonde (participating artist)
Pariticipants