Julie Picard – Artist

Le laboratoire
(The Laboratory)
2021

Project created for the 39th International Symposium of Contemporary Art of Baie-Saint-Paul.

Curator : Sylvie Lacerte. Theme : Time and Things.

Commercial white metal shelves, laboratory glass flasks, various paper stock (Atlas climatique du Canada 1987, the dailies Le Devoir 2021, Journal de Québec 2021, Journal Le Soleil 2021, the weekly Le Charlevoisien 2021, Journal de Mickey 1972, olds books, ads flyers), water taken from the Saint Lawrence River at high tide, clay taken from the Saint Lawrence River at low tide.

102 glass flasks : 15 X 8 X 8 cm each.

Six metal shelves : 160 X 80 X 38 cm each.

Artist’s collection.

Paper cuttings were collected in glass jars, which were then filled with water from the St Lawrence River. As the water evaporated and subsided during a heatwave, the paper underwent a process similar to sedimentation and petrification. The clear jars allowed daily observation of this phenomenon, as though in a laboratory. The daily, transient paper soaked in tidal waters created a dialogue in the studio space located in this ancient impact crater.

Photos: Ivan Binet and Julie Picard.

Laboratory was presented:
2021, 39e Symposium international d’art contemporain de Baie Saint-Paul, Commissaire : Sylvie Lacerte. Thématique : Le temps et les choses.
2021, Foire Papier, Galerie a.

Presse :

« Le début du Symposium de Baie Saint-Paul », VIGNEAULT, Alexandre, La Presse, section Art contemporain, 27 juillet 2021

The artist would like to thank the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec and Ville de Québec.