ARTIST’S APPROACH
Stéphanie Morissette’s work reflects on human behaviour and the use of technologies in our everyday lives as well as in the geopolitical sphere; on conflicts and their psychological impact on the participating actors. She revisits History from different points of view. From a formal point of view, her installations are composed as much of paper, motors, drawings and photos as of animations and videos. This hybrid approach helps transcend the media themselves.
THE ARTWORK
Volière – Aviary
Installation, 2017
Aviary is a large bird cage made of steel occupied by fake birds. What we see here are drones disguised as birds with paper feathers, as well as hybrid birds having animal and mechanical components. These drone-birds present a false exotic world, a transgression in Darwin’s theory of evolution, which makes us doubt the history of animal species and our knowledge of it. The false animal representation, exhibited here in a cage, is also a specimen used for surveillance and spying. It turns our own curious gaze on ourselves: the visitor is observed by the drone, itself controlled by an unknown force. Aviary allows us to question these hybrid specimens and drones that are ever more present in our environment, in the sky among the birds, and in the airspaces of other countries spied upon by our governments.
Curator : Art Souterrain