Jonathan Villeneuve holds a Master in Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal since 2009. His work is multidisciplinary and deals with sculpture, installation and new medias. His work as been showed in Canada & Europe. He is an active member of the Perte de Signal collective since 2005. He lives and works in Montreal.
The rotation of a camshaft located at the back of a wall, induces a perpetual wave motion to sixty wood planks hung vertically. The kinetics of the work evokes the optical effects experienced when driving on bridges, by structures, ramps or fences. The piece also reminds of the crowd movements often seen at events held in large stadiums.
Abysse was design specifically for the exhibition Projectiles, presented at the Centre d’art Expression of St-Hyacinthe. Following a looped, computer-generated algorithm, spotlights light up the inside of a skylight located over the center of the room. A sort of mechanical ballet, the work is linking the various pieces exhibited in the large gallery by visually acting upon them. The in situ work enable the viewer to become aware of the architecture and the physical sensitivity of the space
My work is about articulating familiar elements that are usually static in order to extract their narrative and poetic potential. My installations are made out of common objects and materials - familiar elements that evoke the architecture of the everyday. I build structures that are activated by mechanical, electrical, and electronic technologies - kinetic sculptures that evoke personal and embodied experiences with architecture as constructed environment.
My sculptural work is intimately linked to the usage of mechanics and media technologies. This strategy induces movement of a structure that evoke static objects. The mixing of technologies and materials, which reference everyday life objects, gives a hybrid and playful aspect to my work. Hybridity and détournement are notions that guide my choices of forms; techniques and materials used as a means to increase the semantic and poetic potential of the work. Such an approach strategically invites the viewer to bypass the technological understanding, and allow for the viewer to instinctively relate their experience of the material world to that of the work.
I am researching the mechanisms of construction of time through movement. I aim to push the objects beyond their own materiality. More than just simple objects, my structures activate the space through their sound, as well as through their animated play of lights and shadows in the exhibition space. These elements as time-based and intangible extend the sculptural quality of the work and accentuate its character as time-architecture.
The temporal structure of the work arises from an exchange between the narrative suggested by the artist and the one perceived by the viewer. The work act as mediator between the familiar experience of the material, sound and movements by the spectator, and my desire to extract new meaning related to my own experience of the constructed environment.
(...) It is precisely this irreversible movement from birth towards death that objects help us to cope with. (...) These mechanisms, with the disappearance of the old religious and ideological authorities, are becoming the consolation of consolations, the everyday mythology absorbing all the angst that attends time, that attends death. (...) AUTOMATISM, is the major concept of the modern object’s mechanistic triumphalism, the ideal of its mythology. (Jean Baudrillard: The System of objects)
The kinetics of each element responds to its own logic, a system of rules that emphasizes the concept of autonomy linked to modern everyday objects. The behavior of the structures confronts the viewer with his complete inability to control what seems to be familiar and functional. This pseudo functionality, coupled with the formal aspects of the machines, refers to the idea of the gadget, the ‘thing-a-ma-jig’, a thing of a vague utility, with an imaginary functionality.
Education
2006-2009 : MFA Studio Arts, Open-Media, Concordia University.
2000-2004 : BFA, UQÀM
Solo Exhibitions
2011 : Galerie d’art du centre culturel de l’Universsité de Sherbrook, Sherbrooke, Canada. Faire la vague, installation.
2009 : Musée d’Art Contemporain des Laurentides, St-Jérôme, Canada. Faire la vague, installation.
2008 : Art Mûr Gallery, Montreal, Canada. Trace, collective installation in three stages L / V / S, installation
in collaboration with Sofian Audry.
Performances
2008 : Athens Video Festival, Technopolis, Athens, Grece Grace State Machines, robotic performance in collaboration with Bill Vorn & Emma Howes.
2008 : Elektra Lab, Usine C, Montreal, Canada. Grace State Machines, robotic performance in collaboration with Bill Vorn & Emma Howes.
2008 : Elektra, Maison des métallos, Paris, France. Grace State Machines, idem.
2008 : Festival 404, Trieste, Italie. Grace State Machines, idem.
2007 : Festival Subtle Technologies, Toronto, Canada. Grace States Machines, idem.
2005 : HKS (Hordaland Kunst Center), Bergen, Norway. Drone, video performance.
Group Exhibitions
2009 : Festival Lab-30. Trace L, installation in collaboration with Sofian Audry.
2008 : Festival 404, Trieste, Italie. Trace L, installation in collaboration with Sofian Audry.
2007 : Galerie Expression, St-Hyacinthe, Canada. Trace V, installation in collaboration with Sofian Audry.
2007 : Galerie Expression, St-Hyacinthe, Canada. Abysse, installation in collaboration with Sofian Audry.
2007 : Galerie 1313, Toronto, Canada. Trace L, installation, idem.
2007 : Musée d’Art Contemporain des Laurentides, St-Jérôme, Canada. Trace L, idem.
2005 : HKS (Hordaland Kunst Center), Bergen, Norvège. Travel Agent, installation, in collaboration with Sofian Audry, Mathieu Guindon, Samuel St-Aubin, Julien Keable & S.O.U.P
2005 : Galerie de L’UQAM, Montréal, Canada. Cube, video installation.
2004 : Galerie de l’UQAM, Montréal, Canada. La Station, installation.
2003 : Galerie de l’UQAM, Montréal, Canada. Réflexion, installation.
Residencies
2005 : Piksel Festival, BEK (Bergen Electronic Kunst Center), Bergen, Norway.
Grant & Distinctions
Travel grant, Canada Council for the Arts
2009 : Grace State Machines at the Athens Video Festival, Athens, Grece.
2008 : Trace L and Grace State Machines at Festival 404,Trieste, Italy.
Travel grant, Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec, (Quebec’s arts and literature council)
2009 : Trace at Lab-30, Augsburg,Germany
2009 : Grace State Machines at Athens Video Festival, Athens, Greece.
2008 : Grace State Machines at Festival 404,Trieste, Italy.
2007: Trace L at Alucine Festival, Toronto, Canada.
2010 : Grants to New Media and Audio Artists: Research and Production Grants , Canada Council for the Arts, for the installation WaveLenght
2008 : Laureate of the Jeunes artistes en arts visuels des Laurentides competition
2007 : Grants to New Media and Audio Artists: Research and Production Grants , Canada Council for the Arts, for the installationTrace
2006 : Student grant : Tuition Remission Fees Award. MFA Concordia University.
2005 : Robert Wolf grant, UQÀM Gallery, for the video installation Cube.
2004 : Discreet Logic grant, UQÀM Gallery, for the video installation La Station.
2003 : Mention, McAbbie foundation, UQAM Gallery for the video installation Réflexion.
Professional Experience in the Arts
2010 : Teaching at the Visual Arts Faculty, University of Ottawa, ART4929
2008- 2009 : Board member of CQAM (Conseil québécois des arts médiatiques).
2007- ... : Board member Perte de signal.
2008 : Teaching assistant for Éric Raymond, UQÀM.
2008: Teaching assistant for Peter Flemming, Concordia University.
2006-2008 : Research assistant de Bill Vorn, Concordia University.
2004-2006 : Assistant to implementation and operation of HEXAGRAM UQAM research-creation institute in media art
2005 : Teaching assistant for Gysele Trudel, UQÀM.
Artist Talks
2010 : Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
2009 : Athens Video Festival, Athens, Greece
2008 : Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
2007 : Festival Subtle Technologies, Toronto, Canada.
2005 : UQÀM Gallery, Montreal, Canada.
Press
Suggestions of artistes and organizations web sites
Audrey Samson ( Ideacritik )
