La vision culturelle d’Athanase David (2023)

In May 2023, I was in residence at the Atelier de l’île artist-run centre in Val-David. There, I continued my exploration of territories as spaces for visual, artistic, and civic expression. Sociologist Fernand Harvey’s book La vision culturelle d’Athanase David served as a guideline for my project. Why was a village in the Laurentians renamed, in 1944, in honour of the man who was the precursor of Quebec’s cultural policies? What do the citizens of Val-David know today about the principles and values behind his educational and cultural activities? What vision of culture do local residents hold today? What has been passed down through time? What passes through us? Selected words, sentences, and texts resulting from these meetings and conversations were the subject of experiments in the typography workshop.

The residency is part of the event TRAVERSE: L’ESTAMPE EN ART ACTUEL (September 15 to October 8, 2023), which features the four artists hosted in a research-creation residency this past spring-summer. For the third edition of the event, Atelier de l’île addresses the theme of territory and the physical, cultural, and emotional realities of living together.