Programming

Karen Spencer presented two performances. In them, she explored the power dynamics, duration, space, and audience specific to each of these contexts. In both cases, visitors were confronted with their own expectations...

1) From November 1 to 25, Karen Spencer welcomes you to a very small room, Room 17 at 4301 Saint-Jacques Street. To subvert its meaning, she attempts, through repetitive gestures, to deconstruct a domestic task: that of feeding her family. The result is a ritual through which she forges connections with the visitor. This ongoing performance highlights the paradoxes of this space, which is both intimate due to its small size and anonymous, as such temporary dwellings often are. What will happen to you in this confined space? Over the course of a month, she awaited visitors, sitting on the floor—which was covered in bread—in a tiny room of a one-bedroom apartment in the Saint-Henri neighborhood. She toasted slices of bread and crumbled them with her hands, thereby deconstructing an everyday task.

2) On Friday, November 17, at 7:30 p.m., during a one-hour performance at DARE-DARE, her body served as a catalyst for a sustained emotional intensity that stood in contrast to the intimacy and tranquility of the room. In both performances, the artist confronted the viewer with their own expectations by exploring power dynamics, time, space, and the specific audience within each of these contexts. The viewer’s position within the work is an important and timely subject that Karen Spencer addresses by employing a strategy of duality: on the one hand, a personalized encounter centered on a very simple action in the bedroom; on the other hand, the integration of her personal and intimate life into the more formal context of the gallery. This exploration of grief and lamentation associated with loss will cause the audience’s position to shift. Will you be a viewer, a confidant, or a witness? 

Thanks to my family : Daniel, Gabriel, Nathan and Swimmer.
Merci à DARE-DARE, Caroline Boileau, Christine Brault, Daniel Corbeil, Stéphane Gilot, Raphaëlle de Groot, Marie-Claude Guérette, Manon Quintal, Marie-Andrée Rho, Philippe Tessier et Sylvie Tourangeau.
Merci à Marie-Suzanne Désilets et Manon De Pauw.
Merci à Paul-André Fortier et toute la classe d'atelier-création.
Thanks to every single woman in the Play group: Aneesa, Christine, Dina, Elisabeth, Iwona, Jessica, Kathryn, laura, Lou, Louise, Marie-Andrée, Rachel, Sylvie, Sylvette, Victoria et Vida.
Merci aux professeurs Mario Coté, Anne Thibault, Nicole Jolicoeur, Louise Poissant, Christine Ross et Serge Bérard.
Thanks to Suzanne Miller for being my first loving eye.
Thanks to Lou Nelson for reading and discussing.
Merci et Merci encore à Chantal du Pont pour tout.