Programming

• Photo: Prune Paycha
• Photo: Prune Paycha
• Photo: Prune Paycha

Since 2020, arkadi has been researching the themes of funerals, mourning and post-mortem care. The project La chambre de Chiron (Chiron's room) focuses on the domestic space of dissemination - both of the work and of the body - as the site of an intimate, mythical experience.

The immersive work is created to accommodate the body to be visited. The latter is a human-scale plaster representation of the centaur Chiron, a Greek mythological figure, teacher and physician. His story reveals a unique way of bridging the cultural and natural dimensions of the human condition. Several aspects of his life are also a source of interest: immortal, but wounded by a poisoned arrow, he asked the gods to die to relieve his eternal suffering. In addition, people seeking healing would sleep in his cave one night, and in the morning Chiron would identify in their dreams the source of their ills and the appropriate remedy. 

Various elements of these stories underpin the particularity of La chambre de Chiron in relation to the theme of death: the characters' agentivity towards their suffering, sleep as the moment when the keys to understanding the suffering body emerge, and the grotto as a place of healing. Every Sunday between mid-January and mid-March 2025, you're invited to visit “the body” in the room by reserving a one-hour slot: https://www.zeffy.com/fr-CA/ticketing/exposition-du-corps-a-la-maison-la-chambre-de-chiron-par-arkadi-lavoie-lachapelle 

On Saturdays March 15 and 22, poet Nelly Desmarais and musician Vie Charles join arkadi to offer you an intimate and sensitive artistic encounter around the themes of the exhibition (registration will also open in the coming weeks). 

Thanks

“I would like to thank the artist François Rioux for his help in creating Chiron, the collaborating artists of the events in the room, Vie Charles and Nelly Desmarais, the DARE-DARE team, the artist-run workshop Gham&Dafe, my mentors, friends and the gravitational force. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Canada Council for the Arts for its support in the realization of this third part of my body of work on post-mortem care.”

- arkadi lavoie lachapelle

arkadi lavoie lachapelle

arkadi lavoie lachapelle is an action artist, poet, and teacher who grew up in the country in a middle-class francophone family. They have been practising in Quebec’s metropolis for over ten years. They have a degree in visual and media arts from UQAM (2013) and have since presented their work in many exhibitions and festivals in Canada and Europe, notably in Spain and Germany. As part of their social commitment, they are a member of the Gham & Dafe studios and have been involved in the administration of the VIVA! Art Action festival. lavoie lachapelle has been a finalist for the Prix Pierre-Ayot (AGAC, 2020) and the Sobey Award for the Arts (2023); they have also received the support of their peers as demonstrated by several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.