Flying School

Flying School
2000
motorized sound installation
umbrellas, harmonicas, motors, steel, cardboard, halogen lighting, MIDI controller, computer
24 objects: variable width between : 30 and 100 cm, variable height between : 100 and 220 cm
ceiling projection: about 800 x 800 cm
Collection of Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington (North Carolina, USA)
documentation: – photo & video©Diane Landry 

2022

  • Twenty Years, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington (North Carolina, USA).

2020

  • Mois Multi | volet installation, Flying School, curator : Jeanne Couture, L'Oeil de Poisson, Québec (Québec, Canada).

2019

  • Flying School, Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery, Sarnia (Ontario, Canada).

2018

  • Festival Internacional de las Luces México FILUX, Solo | Centro Cultural Olimpo, Mérida (Yucatán, Mexico).

2013

  • The Cadence of All Things, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington (North Carolina, USA).
  • Flying School, Definitely Superior, Thunder Bay (Ontario, Canada).

2011

  • The Defibrillators, curator: Eve-Lyne Beaudry, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton (Ontario, Canada).

2010

  • Festival City Sonic, curator: Franck Philippe, Salle Saint-Georges, Mons (Belgium).
  • Réservoir électrique, Séquence, Saguenay (Quebec, Canada).
  • The Defibrillators, curator: Eve-Lyne Beaudry, Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada).

2009

  • The Defibrillators, curator: Eve-Lyne Beaudry
    • Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston (Ontario, Canada)
    • Esplanade Art Gallery, Medicine Hat (Alberta, Canada)
    • Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa (Ontario, Canada).

2008

  • Les défibrillateurs, curator: Eve-Lyne Beaudry, Musée d’art de Joliette, Joliette (Quebec, Canada).
  • Flying School, SolwayJones, Los Angeles (California, USA).

2006

  • Diane Landry (Canada), curator: Philippe Pasquier, Bus 117, Melbourne (Australia).
  • francofffonies ! Québec_numériQ, curator: Richard Castelli, co-organized by Avatar and presented at Théâtre Châtelet, Paris (France).
  • Avatar @ Vooruit, Courtisane Festival, co-organized by Avatar and presented at the Vooruit, Ghent (Belgium).

2005

  • Flying School and Mandala Naya, curator: Kimberly Davenport, Rice Gallery, Houston (Texas).
  • Flying School and Mandala Naya, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington (North Carolina, USA).

2004

  • hi-tech / lo-tech, curator: Murray Horne, Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA).

2003

  • Flying School, curator: Johannes Bergmark, Stockholm-New Music, Fylkingen, Stockholm (Sweden).

2002

  • Flying School, Definitely Superior, Thunder Bay (Ontario, Canada).
  • Mois Multi 3, Les Productions Recto-Verso, Studio d’essai, Méduse, Quebec City (Quebec, Canada).

2001

  • Flying School, send + receive version 4, Ace Art Inc., Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada).
  • Flying School and The Lighthouse, Mobius, Boston (Massachusetts, USA).

2000

  • Flying School, Mercer Union, Toronto (Ontario, Canada).
  • La Biennale de Montréal – Tout le temps / Every Time, curator: Peggy Gale, Palais du Commerce, Montreal (Quebec, Canada).

 The work stands amidst empty space like an impenetrable island. From it sprout 24 multicoloured umbrellas attached to different rods at different heights, but always within the range of a person's stature. The umbrellas unfold and fold intermittently, slowly, like a person inhaling and exhaling. While apparently protecting themselves from an unlikely shower, they seem to chant a litany. The plaintive melody comes from little motor-driven accordions, of my making, that lie at the base of each umbrella. They further accentuate the “lung” effect and, often, the spectators adjust their own breathing accordingly. After a while, one also notices the silhouettes that the halogen lamps cast on the ceiling. These moving silhouettes, projected upwards, resemble a flower opening and then closing. The field of umbrellas moves unpredictably, its vagaries much like those of our climate. The motion follows an ambiguous sequence that echoes the accordion sounds, thus capturing the audience's attention and altering the way they perceive the work. To animate Flying School, each umbrella-accordion is hooked up to a controller that in turn connects to a computer. A program enables me to compose a sequence that makes the umbrella-accordions unfold or fold one after another. The umbrella-accordions are a hybrid of light and sound, infused with elements of sculpture, musical craftsmanship, and electronics.