Despite the warning signs and the velvet ropes, do you ever go into an art gallery and just want to touch everything? Local artist Genevi猫ve Arcand knows the feeling.
During her student days at Concordia University in her hometown of Montreal, Arcand studied fine arts, taking a particular interest in sculpture.
鈥淚 always wanted to go to a museum and touch a Van Gogh or something like that, but you can鈥檛 just do that so then I started making my own sculptures, but no one would touch them either because they thought they were so fragile,鈥� Arcand said. 鈥淵ou can try to understand something by looking at it, but for me to really understand something you have to touch it and experience it.鈥�
From then on, Arcand started creating interactive contemporary installations, displaying her work at galleries throughout the city.
鈥淚t was funny because I started putting my work in places where you weren鈥檛 supposed to touch the art and now I was telling people 鈥榶es, please touch it,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淚 wanted to create things that everyone could have fun with鈥攑eople who studied arts could have fun, but also my grandma could have fun with these installations.鈥�
Near the end of her studies at Concordia, Arcand was chosen to display a piece of public art in downtown Montreal. Using bits of plywood she constructed something resembling a tiny house with a set of back-to-back booths, separated by a wall.
In one booth was something similar to a microphone that connected to a makeshift audio system in the opposite booth.
鈥淥n one side you could only listen and on the other side you could only talk,鈥� said Arcand, adding she based the idea off of a church鈥檚 confession booth. 鈥淭he idea was that if you have something to say you can just go there and talk without knowing who is on the other side.
鈥淚 like the fact that random people off the street can just play and have fun with art. A lot of people never go into museums or give a damn about what artist made what so this idea was made just to put some joy into a stranger鈥檚 day.鈥�
Now Arcand has been chosen for another public art installation for Montreal鈥檚 Art Souterrain, a contemporary arts festival, showcasing dozens of international artists at public locations throughout Montreal鈥檚 underground city.
This year鈥檚 festival theme is 鈥減lay and distraction.鈥� For Arcand鈥檚 application, she came up with a creative way to turn the average passer-by into an artist by setting up booths filled with lime green modeling clay. People will be able to insert their hands into rubber gloves and mould the clay into whatever they like.聽 A brief how-to-guide with about 60 examples of contemporary sculptures will also be available.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be fun. You do your own thing and then the next person can come along and do their thing,鈥� Arcand said. 鈥淎 lot of people think that art is something to hang on the wall, but it鈥檚 not always about that. Sometimes art is just having fun and sharing that experience.鈥�
Arcand鈥檚 exhibit will be on display at Montreal鈥檚 Central Station from March 4-26. She鈥檒l be flying to Montreal near the end of the month, leaving her only 10 days to bring her plan to life.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be a super artist or anything, I just want people to stop and have some fun during the day,鈥� she said.
Kayla Byrne
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