2018
PHILIPPE ALLARD
APRIL 16 → MAY 26 2022
The airbag is a flexible membrane which, because of an explosive chemical reaction, fills with air in order to absorb the impacts during a collision. This tool is part of the visual language of contemporary technological tragedies: a wrecked car covered in shards of glass, crumpled sheet metal and a white organic membrane hanging from the steering wheel; a dramatic scene where time seems to stand still. Réanimation artificielle consists of several animated air bags that altogether embody an artificial living system. The hanging bags inflate and deflate using fans in a non-linear cadence. This device is electronically controlled by a random generative system. The installation establishes a contradictory metaphor between the organic and the mechanical, the natural and the artificial, the tragic and the playful, while highlighting the acceleration of technological progress and its paradoxes.
Philippe Allard's practice focuses mainly on sculpture and installation. Inspired by arte povera, he salvages industrially produced materials and objects available in large quantities and subverts their original meaning by assembling them. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, France, Portugal, Morocco and South Korea, notably at Articule, the Fonderie Darling, DARE-DARE, the Confederation Centre of the Arts and the Musée d’art de Joliette. In collaboration with Justin Duchesneau, he won the Place des Arts de Montréal competition in 2009 and the AGAC public art award in 2014 (Courtepointe), and created the permanent public artwork Le Joyau royal et le mile doré for the City of Montréal’s Bureau d’art public in 2016. His work is also featured in Thames & Hudson’s international publication 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow (2019).