MARTIN MESSIER | ASHES

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MARTIN MESSIER | ASHES

In 2017, just as the two artists Martin Messier and Yro (Élie Blanchard) were beginning an artistic collaboration, a fire broke out in the studio's storage space, destroying the materials that were to make up their work. The artists were faced with an intuition: to put the residue of the fire at the heart of their creation. The result is Ashes - a phoenix-like work that materializes in an exploration of the notions of waste, disappearance and disintegration.

The performance is based on a video projection device: two microscopes and cameras transmit live images of burnt materials placed on a luminous table. The table is animated by a motorized system moving very slowly along three axes. These materials, manipulated without contact via vibrations and precise movements, appear to float, transforming debris into narrative elements. Moving between the microscopes, the artists orchestrate a meticulous, almost clinical choreography, fusing human gestures with visual and aural matter.

ASHES questions the links between destruction and reconstruction, material and immaterial. By sublimating residue down to the microscopic level, the work reveals an unsuspected, shifting universe, where each fragment is both vestige and beginning. An artistic reflection on matter and its infinite metamorphosis.

Concept, visual
Élie Blanchard and Martin Messier

Music and liveset programming
Martin Messier

Technical design
Élie Blanchard

Electronics/Mechanic
Akwariom, Fab lab brc

Production
14 lieux and Avoka

Coproducers
Recto-Verso (Québec), L.E.V. Festival (Gijòn), Festival ]interstice[ (Caen)

Support
Conseil des Arts du Canada, CNC avec la participation du DICRÉAM, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts de Montréal, Station Mir with support of Région Normandie in partnership with CNC and Normandie Images

Production
14 lieux (Canada) + Avoka (France)

Management support
Machinerie des arts