Transcultures from November 10 to December 19, 2020
For the fifth edition of their digital creation and arts-science residency exchange initiated in 2015, LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE (artist-run centre dedicated to the experimentation of visual and digital arts based in Quebec City) and Transcultures (Center for digital and sound cultures in La Louvière - Belgium) inaugurates a new formula associating an artist and a researcher around the same creation. For the 2020-2021 season, it is the art historian and Quebec artistic curator Anne-Sophie Blanchet and the Belgian intermedia and sound artist Alain Wergifosse who have been selected by the two organizations following a call for projects in common.
Two residency periods are planned for this project. For the Wallonia-Brussels period, the residency will take place virtually from November 10 to December 19, 2020 and this section will be devoted for preparing the project. For Alain Wergifosse, it is about preparing his next immersive installation Flux & Densities by experimenting with images with an optical microscope as well as electronic and sensory devices. This first phase of experimentation will allow the composition of new images and new sounds around transforming matter and the manipulation of light in movement by mechanical, optical, digital, electronic and chemical means.
At the end of this design phase, Anne-Sophie Blanchet will begin writing critical texts on the artist's approach and the creative process. In addition, Alain Wergifosse will offer a first videographic experiment which will be developed more widely in the second phase of his residency at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE.
This last phase of production will take place from March 24 to May 1, 2021. An exhibition of Alain Wergifosse's work is scheduled at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE at the end of April 2021. The end of this exchange will coincide with the release of a new album by Transonic label coordinated by Transcultures and with the publication of a final essay written by Anne-Sophie Blanchet.
Anne-Sophie Blanchet
Anne-Sophie Blanchet is an art historian and curator. Collaborating regularly with cultural organizations and academia, she has worked in the visual arts community for over ten years. She is the author of several essays and critical texts focusing on contemporary art as well as on the challenges of conservation and exhibition of current artistic productions in the museum context. Her recent research is particularly interested in performance and sound art as well as their mediation in public space.
Alain Wergifosse
An insatiable explorer of sound, image and the media since the 1980s, Alain Wergifosse amplifies all kinds of resonant objects and specializes in the electronic processing of feedback to achieve his organic compositions and improvisations. He has traveled the world solo and with various groups and collective projects. In recent years, returning to Belgium, he has developed his visual work and produced immersive and interactive installations, self-generating videos, microscopies and other materialist compositions presented in several festivals and international events such as City Sonic, MEM Festival, KIKK Festival, Semaine du Son, Simultan Festival and Transnumériques.