arkadi lavoie lachapelle
Jour de fête! : expérience d’une naissance imminente

A work presented from February 7 to April 5, 2019, waiting to be activated by the artist
Opening on February 7 at 7 pm

The work will be activated on the occasion of Session 20, on February 21, 2019 at 7 pm

Genealogy of the Adventure

1983 ― Dazibao presents the exhibition The Birth Report by Peter Wollheim and Valmai Howe Elkins and upon this occasion, an event entitled “Comment obtenir ce que vous désirez de l’hôpital” (“How to get what you want from the hospital”, our translation).

1987 ― Midwife Isabelle Brabant publishes “Ne touchez pas à ma douleur” (“Do not touch my pain”, our translation) in the journal L'une à l'autre. The article encourages parturient women to reclaim their right to pain and the choice to decide upon the means through which their pain is managed.

1980-… ― Isabelle Brabant takes the photograph presented in the gallery space during a delivery in a hospital, in Montréal.

1999 ― Midwifery is legalized in Québec.

2016 ― As part of the project Art + Bioethics (Espace Projet), arkadi lavoie lachapelle is paired up with bioethicist and lawyer Jean-Frédéric Ménard. The artist discovers the photo taken by Isabelle Brabant whilst researching institutional fragility and emergency neonatal care. She inverts and enlarges this archive image and it becomes the work described below:

Jour de fête! (2016)

Inkjet print on Epson Matte paper, Select pale maple frame (white lacquered finish), dry mounted on Peterboro Museum acid-free 4-ply cardboard, Tru Vue Premium clear acrylic sheet, linden underframe

124.46 x 170.18 x 5.08 cm, 35.4 lbs

1/1

$ 3,000

2016 ― March 17, upon the creation of Jour de fête! and its possible sale as an art object, Jean-Frédéric Ménard and arkadi lavoie lachapelle produce modèle pour des contrats féministes et équitables de vente initiale d’œuvre d’art (model for a feminist and fair contract for the initial sale of artworks, our translation). This legal and artistic document proposes an exchange between artist and collector that is at once financial and political. Among other things, it suggests the speculative paradigm as a direct means of investing in culture by granting 100% of the surplus value to the artist.

2018 ― In October, whilst developing her project for Dazibao, the artist finds the text “Ne touchez pas à ma douleur” and reflects on its link to the model for feminist contracts: “Do not touch my value.”

2019 ― On February 7, 2019, the work Jour de fête!, the contract, as well as the text by Isabelle Brabant are brought together in the exhibition space. These elements are to be activated by the artist as part of Dazibao’s SESSIONS programming.

February 21 at 7 pm ― Jour de Fête! : expérience de naissance imminente, a dinner gathering prepared by arkadi lavoie lachapelle in which the practice of birth accompaniment and artistic practice are put into dialogue to explore issues such as vulnerability within institutional environments, the demand to perform, risk taking, and the role of documentation.

Evolving mainly in Tio'tia: ke (Montréal) on Kanien'kehá: ka unceded territory, arkadi lavoie lachapelle’s considers her artistic practice as multi, inter or magic-disciplinary. Whether her work is manifesting in the public space, at a gallery, at conferences, or in the context of clandestine events, the artist cultivates the paradox of the performative gesture; it might be disturbing but it can also feel good. arkadi lavoie lachapelle recently presented Usine à mirage as part of event ORANGE, in Saint-Hyacinthe (curators Isabelle and Marie-Ève ​​Charron), and will soon be presenting l’obscur at Le Lobe, in Chicoutimi (curator Hugo Nadeau ). She participates in the organizing of the festival VIVA! Art Action. She has been invited as artist-in-residence and presented her work at various locations in Canada and Europe.