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Espace Sculpture
Ghost stories… Denis Longchamps
La société du spectacle The Society of the Spectacle Number 105, Fall 2013
URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/70044ac
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Publisher(s) Le Centre de diffusion 3D
ISSN 0821-9222 (print) 1923-2551 (digital)
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Cite this review Longchamps, D. (2013). Review of [Ghost stories…]. Espace Sculpture, (105), 40–42.
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Ghost stories… Denis LONGCHAMPS
The question “is there a life after still darkness prevailed. It was a death?” has fascinated people for cool summer night, like so many ages. As far back as the eighteenth others in this region. Gill’s and century, novels such as Frankenstein Pittman’s search lights danced on 1 the water... from left to right then and The Cavern of Death captured back to the left... further down the imagination of the public. Even the river... then closer to the today, just a quick look at the line bridge. A reflection. Another. up of films and television programs Here. There. Floating lifeless confirms that zombies, vampires, white objects; ghostly illusions spirits and ghosts are in vogue. Many slowly appeared under the projecting lights, only to disap- people do wonder if there is some pear again, carried by the current sort of life after death… some even of the river towards the train push the issue by searching for ways trestle and beyond. As they to defy, circumvent or even cheat drifted closer, their silhouettes death. became clearer, a child’s boot, Consequently, the living-dead a chair, a crutch, a baseball bat, (as in zombies and vampires) or other pieces of clothing from a baby’s forms of afterlife existence (as in pyjama to an adult’s pair of ghosts and spirits) hold, not only pants, a teddy bear, even a entertainment value but also bring bicycle. Somewhere nearby, Geoff to the fore the “what if” possibility. In Panting played a sad lament on popular culture, fiction and legend his accordion. A sense of eeriness seem to blend with reality as in the filled the night as people watched television program Ghost Hunters,2 and tried to understand, chills which examines such phenomenon running down their spine. The in assumed haunted places with all pieces appeared, silent witnesses the seriousness and high tech equip- of a tragedy, ghosts of what was ment required. Such popular enthu- once filled with life, and then siasm witnessed in this subject disappeared again. matter is parallel in contemporary Gill’s High Water performance artistic practice where the explo- was then turned into a video (2011); and an installation (2012) rations take on multiple levels and John LATOUR, Psychic touch many interrelated issues from for Nuit Blanche in Toronto. The The floating detritus acts as John Latour’s new series of sculp- Cabinet, 2010. Found objects the global environment to interna- work, more so the performance of memento of many passed lives, men, tures, Apport, were first presented in (wooden cabinet and foot tional politics to private concerns. 2011, is not without recalling known women and children who have Montreal in a solo exhibition7 with rest), copper pipes and wire, While some question the public’s disasters that happened at sea near disappeared, swallowed up by the other works that touched upon the plastic shower curtains, acrylic fascination with the undead, others the coast of Newfoundland such as waves, never to be found again. As idea of communicating with the enti- paint. Variable dimensions. the sinking of the Titanic (1912), a this material of living is washed ties of another world. Each sculpture Collection of the artist and delved into this form of (un)bodily courtesy of Pierre-François ashore on the beaches of British representation to highlight contem- hundred years ago, or the sealing of the series includes a wooden block Ouellette art contemporain. porary issues far beyond that of just disasters two years later (1914).4 Its Columbia, concerns about the from which stems a steel rod mere entertainment. The works presentation in Toronto highlights ecosystem grow exponentially.5 The supporting an object from the past. examined within this context include other more contemporary tragic reali- floating debris thus highlights more The assemblage is then partially the Apport series started in 2010 ties and the universality of a sense of than one disaster, one with environ- covered with paraffin that gives the and Psychic Cabinet of John Latour loss and emptiness. The whiteness of mental consequences, the destructive sculptures a very sensuous finish. (Montreal, Quebec) and Will Gill’s the objects, while adding to the power of nature and the loss of so Sometimes the paraffin is applied in (St.John’s, Newfoundland and haunting effect of ghostly apparitions, many lives. one place in a substantial accumula- Labrador) installation titled High is not without spiritual connotations. On a smaller scale, the floating tion, like a glob; in other cases the Water presented during Toronto’s Recent tsunamis, such as the objects of Gill’s performance and application seems more refined, as Nuit Blanche in September 2012, and December 26, 2004 occurrence in the installation also make reference to an even coat. Many of the found an earlier presentation and subse- Indian Ocean or the March 11, 2011 the refuse people leave behind on objects are or suggest modes of quent video produced in 2011. disaster in Tohoku, Japan, come to beaches or throw in the water for fun communication. On July 7 2011, during the ArtEx mind. More so for the latter, since it and games without consideration for Four new works, intended to be 2011,3 on the Bishops Falls Train was reported that 1.5 million tons of the environment. Water bottles, presented together as Apport 11-14 Trestle, artist Will Gill and his assis- debris is currently floating towards coffee cups, beer and wine bottles (2012) of this continuing series, tant, Michael Pittman, scrutinized the the west coast of North America— are a few examples of such garbage include a horseshoe, a pipe, a water of the Exploits River. It was past motorcycles, small boats, personal carelessly abandoned that have a compass and a 1946 pocket diary. 10PM, the village’s lights dimly shone items and clothing of all kinds and significant impact on the wildlife and Curiously, when arranged side by side on the river, as did the half-moon; architectural remnants of buildings. the ecosystem.6 in a certain order, they spell COLD.
40 ESPACE 105 AUTOMNE 2013 John LATOUR, Apport 7, 2010. Found object (metal toy telephone), wood, metal, paraffin wax, acrylic paint. 64 x 12 x 9 cm. Private collection.
John LATOUR, Apports 11 – 14, 2012. Found objects, wood, metal, paraffin wax, acrylic paint. Variable dimensions. Collection of the artist and courtesy of Pierre- François Ouellette art contemporain.
Each object of course acts as a memento of a passed life, era, or activity, each one alluding to someone or something else. As Latour writes on his website, the series “is related to the phenomenon of Appor- tation––ordinary or transformed objects that materialize out of thin air during the course of séances.” The séances were held starting in the late Will GILL, High Water – 18th century after the publication of ArtEx 2011. Performance. George First Baron Lyttelton’s book Exploits River, Grand Falls Communication With the Other Side in Windsor, Newfoundland. 1760. These séances consisted in a Spotlight from train trestle. Photo: Mark BENNETT. gathering of people who wished to communicate with dear ones in the after life. Apports were left behind by the spirits as a sign of their presence; on other occasions their manifesta- tion was marked by a wax mould that “[re]produced the ectoplasmic forms or entities.”8 While the apports of another era was a demonstration of the existence of an afterlife, Latour’s Apports suggest a passed life that highlights new ways to communicate.
ESPACE 105 AUTOMNE 2013 41 Will GILL, High Water – ArtEx 2011. Performance. Exploits River, Grand Falls Windsor, Newfoundland. Reflective objects floating downriver. Photo: Eric WALSH.
Will GILL, High Water– use to get the proper atmosphere to still published anonymously today. The ArtEx 2011. Performance. establish communication with the author is Mary Ann Burges (1763-1813). Exploits River, Grand Falls au-dela. In the past, the mediums 2. Ghost Hunters (OLN, Fridays, 9PM ET), Windsor, Newfoundland. would enter the cabinet, and within follows a group of real-paranormal Reflective objects floating its confine space they would be able specialists in their investigation of downriver (Chair, Crutch). Photo: Mark BENNETT. to focus on their communicating haunted sites in the United States. powers. Similarly, Latour’s cabinet For more on this show, visit the OLN provides a quiet and secluded place website: www.oln.ca to focus and concentrate. However, 3. ArtEX is a biennial held in Grand-Falls- during its public exhibition, no such Winsor, Newfoundland and Labrador. communications with spirits were For more information on ArtEX visit reported. artexploits.com The concept of the afterlife has 4. The sinking of the Titanic has been the always been fascinating to human subject of many documentaries, books, beings. The Egyptians left traces of and movies. It occurred during the night such beliefs in their pharaoh’s tombs of April 15, 1912. The Sealing Disaster in the pyramids. And to this day, occurred two years later on March 31, human beings look for a continua- 1914 when the SS Newfoundland left tion of their life after death, perhaps 132 seal hunters stranded on the ice. A < always in hope for a better one. Both few hours later a storm broke and the men were abandoned, in part due to Will GILL, High Water – artists, Gill and Latour, invite us to the lack of communication with another Scotiabank Nuit Blanche consider the haunting presence 2012. Installation. Roy ship, the SS Stephano. On April 2, of loss and absence but with very Thomson Hall Reflecting rescuers found the men, 78 had died of different outcomes. Environmental Pool, Toronto, Ontario. cold or drowned, falling into the icy issues overlap with personal ones; Installation of 100 Objects. waters. Cassie Brown wrote Death in the Photo: W. GILL. objects become story tellers, Ice in 1976, telling the story of the SS witnesses of other times and Newfoundland crew, and the following cultures. They highlight changes in inquiry. our habits, personal and universal, 5. CBC News, “Tsunami Debris Turning in our communion with nature and B.C. Beaches into Landfills,” June 22, our communication with each 2012 [online] 9 other. < www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british- Denis LONGCHAMPS was recently columbia/story/2012/06/21/bc-tsunami- appointed Director of Programs at the debris-haida-gwaii.html Burlington Art Centre, Ontario. Previously, 6. What is known as the Great Pacific he was Manager of Exhibitions and Publi- Garbage Patch is composed of a multi- cations at The Rooms Provincial Art tude of debris, coming from many Gallery, St. John’s, Newfoundland. He natural disasters, tropical storms and the received his PhD in art history in 2009 likes, as well as from careless people. from Concordia University where he was For more on the subject, [on line] the administrator of the Gail and Stephen education.nationalgeographic.com/educ A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Cana- ation/encyclopedia/great-pacific- garbage-patch/?ar_a=1 dian Art from 2006 to 2011. 7. Spirit Communications was presented at While the artist investigates the level of emotion is removed (such as NOTES Pierre-François Ouellette Art history of paranormal experiences voice trembling, silence or hesitation) 1. Written by Mary Shelly (1797-1851), it Contemporain in October 2010. and research, some of his sculptures and replaced by cutesy emoticons was first published anonymously in 8. One famous wax mould is known as the also tap into other issues. The old and short texts that allow one to hide 1818 under the title Frankenstein or The Kluski Hands Moulds [on line] January landline telephone that allowed for and conceal. Modern Prometheus by Lackington, 30 2013, www.metapsychique.org/The- endearing human interaction has Apport is not the artist’s first series Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, Kluski-Hands-Moulds.html been replaced by smart phones and of work that touches upon ghost life London, UK. The Cavern of Death was 9. The author wishes to thank Mary Reid computers where human emotions and the spirit world. In 2010, he first published anonymously as a series who read previous drafts of this essay can be easily erased from the equa- presented Psychic Cabinet reminis- in the True Britton newspaper and then and the artists John Latour and Will Gill. tion. Through texting and emailing a cent of a similar one that mediums as a book in 1794 (J. Bell, London). It is
42 ESPACE 105 AUTOMNE 2013