optica -

Sophie Bélair Clément (with the collaboration of David Jacques )
See you later / au revoir : 17 minutes en temps réel, 2008 (1/3)
Video installation, sound
18 minutes
Collection of the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery
Concordia University. Purchase, 2011
Photo : Richard-Max Tremblay

In this video, an employee leaves the office, greeting the secretary as he goes. The banality of the action is offset by the speed of execution, which seems never to conclude, the end of the workday almost beyond hope. It is in fact a reconstruction of Michael Snow’s See You Later/Au revoir (1990), the main feature of which was that it stretched the initial 30-second shot to 18 minutes. Sophie Bélair Clément performed this slow-motion in real time, in a setting similar to that of the original work. Her partner, David Jacques, worked in front of the camera—as the secretary—and produced the sound effects, which are also slowed down. This interpretative and artisanal version allows for a reexamination of her predecessor’s artificial achievement. Taking up the role of that canonical figure in Canadian art, Bélair Clément affords an alternate reading of both the work and art history. In 2009, she exhibited "Le son du projecteur" at OPTICA.

M-E.C.