2008

During the winter of 2008, I presented Haïr le capitalisme/Hatred of Capitalism, a solo show at the Galerie de l’UQAM in Montréal, that explored relationships between contemporary factory-landscapes (roads, distribution centres, logging roads etc.) and intimate spaces. The show comprised of a 23 minute video presenting Walmart’s Eastern Canadian distribution centre in Cornwall, Ontario, a foot-long fragment of a two-lane asphalt road (built to the correct width of 21 feet), a video presenting my attempts to film crows on the side of a highway, attempts to trace the outlines of logging roads, open mines and transmission lines captured in satellite images, and a remake with two video loops of a scene in Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville’s 1975 film, Numéro deux.

I chose the title because two notions are at play in the words “hatred of capitalism”: on the one hand, one’s hatred of an economic system which one might find injust and damaging; and on the other hand, the hatred inherent in this system in its effects on us. This phrase captures, I think, both the alienating effects of this economic system, and a possible way forward through resistance and knowledge.

Press Coverage
Du bitume et des corneilles
January 26, 2008
Marie-Ève Charron, Le Devoir