Arkadi Lavoie Lachapelle
Montreal, CanadaBiography
Using clandestine actions, pop-up performances in public spaces or gallery installations, arkadi lavoie lachapelle creates situations that bring into question today’s prevailing productivity-centred ideology, countering it up to a point by fostering a festive and celebratory atmosphere.
Born the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall fell and of the Polytechnique shootings, raised in a middle-class family settled in Lanaudière, arkadi lavoie lachapelle lives and works in Montreal. She participates in the organization of events such as VIVA! Art.
About the artwork
This moveable and collapsible piece of artisanal furniture was created by arkadi lavoie lachapelle in collaboration with the cabinet-maker Gilles Rivard. Since 2012, it has been shown in different locations. This artwork aims to create a shareable space where individuals can come together, building a future based on common fellowship.
In October 2015, as part of a project with Verticale – centre d’artistes, the piece was assembled in Mont-de-La Salle’s main hallway (a secondary school in Laval) for the entire school year. Students, staff members, parents and visitors made this singular bench their own, rocking together as they would chit-chat or simply sit down a moment to relax.
In the fall of 2016, the school’s student democratic body, the Parlement du Mont, passed a resolution in favour of acquiring a more solid model of the bench. This motion from the students was endorsed by the school’s governing board. Since then, a crowdfunding campaign (http://www.gofundme.com/lachoraleaumont) has been organized in support of the students’ efforts to purchase the bench.
Its presence here is an invitation to share in these students’ sense of community.
