lamathildeKICKWORD
© lamathilde, image tirée de l’installation KICKWORD, 2023-2024.
KICKWORD is a deep sensory and intellectual interactive experience in virtual reality, focusing on resilience in the face of insults and orders. The work highlights the social dimension of these mechanisms of domination and regulation, while exploring a world freed from humiliation. Participants choose from a range of oppressive themes to confront verbal aggression. They fight back physically against offensive words with their fists, creating an immersive experience conducive to the discussion of trauma. KICKWORD’s universe, both sober and bright, is designed to amplify the experience. Under a pink sky evoking an optimistic world, insults are presented in the form of colorful, massive word sculptures. Repetitive sounds reinforce the impact of the insults, inciting participants to physically confront and eliminate them. KICKWORD is based on vagus nerve theories and trauma psychology. These incorporate elements of martial arts to restore balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.
During the sound residency at OBORO, the focus is on collecting and recording testimonies from various so-called minority communities, in order to contribute to the creation of a “cartography of oppressions”. This cartography records the insults and personal attacks that will become the central elements of the final work. This immersion phase, guided by the artist, also enables meaningful exchanges on the experience, as well as reflections on violence and power dynamics.
© lamathilde, image tirée de l’installation KICKWORD, 2023-2024.
Mathilde Geromin, aka lamathilde, is a French-Canadian artist based in Tiöhtià:ke (Montreal) working with video, performance, sound and XR. She holds two bachelor’s degrees in communications and cinema, as well as a master’s in linguistics. She has been an active member of the WWKA performance collective, curator (sound and video), producer and radio host. She has carried out creative residencies and her work has been presented at numerous international festivals and exhibitions, including FIFA, Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois de Montréal, MIX Brasil São Paulo in Brazil, MIX Copenhagen, the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art Argentina, the City of Women international contemporary art festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and the Women Make Waves Film festival in Taiwan. A recipient of various grants (CAC / CALQ), her workis part of collections (Universities: Concordia, McGill, Ottawa), and has received various awards, including the Prix Spécial Expérimental from the organizers of Cineffable (Paris).