This new installation and performance piece showcasing the works of Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens explores the audience’s relationship with art itself. Awfully contemporary for its time, When the Guests Are Not Looking delves into the economics of our materialist lives and holds up a mirror to modern-day productivity.
The project extends its roots from a conversation on productivity and idleness between a philosopher and a vagabond that happens to be a part of a book named Rameau’s Nephew by Denis Diderot. This 18th-century satirical text is known to have sown the seeds of the present-day discourse on productivity. So as to manifest the true nature of a performative installation, student actors will embody the character of the vagabond, giving spontaneous performances. As a result, different visitors will see different parts of the performances, or none at all. In fact, visitors might not even realize that what they are seeing is a performance. Thematically speaking, When the Guests Are Not Looking portrays the social demand for individuals to shape themselves within the conditions of today’s mass-production economy. This exhibition is 2018’s first exposition for SFU Galleries and is definitely an event that would be a shame to miss.
The Audain Gallery (located at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) will accommodate this installation from January 20 to February 3.
