Le principe de proportionnalité

(The Principle of Proportionality)

2008

Recovered newspaper, Kraft cardboard, solvent-free white glue, Kraft cardboard, cotton rope.

Two unfolded-folded honeycomb structure suspended from the ceiling.

300 cm X 50 cm in diameter.

The project’s title refers to current armed conflicts. We are all spectators of mutual bombardments of warring sides. Like a gamemaster, the Geneva Convention regulates legitimate or banned retaliations through the principle of proportionality. Inspired by this operational theatre greatly popularized through the media, I wish to stage a reflection on rivalry. The work is composed of two identical pieces representing a cannon that are modelled on a cast iron artefact conserved on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City.

Presented for the first time in 2008, the installation exhibits the two cannons in two places simultaneously, in Quebec City and Levis, on opposite sides of the Saint Lawrence River. One cannon is pointed at the other, ready to retaliate. The riverside residents become rivals; a north-south dialogue that responds with the muzzles of their cannons! This face to face turns the river into a mirror. The reply becomes its own reflection. 

This project was also presented at the 6th Jeux de la Francophonie in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2009, and at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, in 2010.