Julie Lassonde - Counterbalance #2: Physicality of Judgment
Installed at the Court of Appeal of Quebec, this work explores balance and judgment, including the role of the body and emotion in judgment. Use the seesaw and listen to an audio recording on site. The performance combines movement, actions with the seesaw and an audio recording.
Location : Lobby of the Court of Appeal of Quebec, 100, Notre-Dame Street East, Montreal
Exhibition : September 18 to October 13, 2017
Opening : September 21 at 5:30 pm / 10 minutes performance around 6 pm
"This new piece is part of a series that started at Osgoode Hall Law School, where I was an artist-in-residence in 2014-2015. As part of my residency, I produced a piece called “Counterbalance.” The piece involved a seesaw, representing balance and risk-taking in law and life. The seesaw was installed in the main hall of the law school and used by students, faculty and staff. The piece also involved a live performance including movement, the manipulation of objects and a sound recording.
For the Court of Appeal project, I created a new performance and two narratives related to the new space. One recorded audio narrative was created to accompany the seesaw for the entire exhibit and a second one was created specifically for the performance. The public and personnel of the Court are invited to use the seesaw throughout the exhibit. The performance will involve solo movement and interaction with the seesaw, in addition to an audio narrative, for a duration of approximately 10 minutes."
Originally from Montreal, Julie Lassonde is a performance artist who is interested in subjects such as gender, intimacy, socio-legal norms affecting daily life and processes related to performativity, such as repetition. Trained in corporeal mime school, she presented performances and improvisations in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria, Berkeley, San Francisco and Edinburgh. She also studied law at McGill University. She is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Barreau du Québec. In 2006, she was awarded the Law and Society Graduate Fellowship and an interdisciplinary master’s degree in law and the visual arts at the University of Victoria.
Photo credit: © H. Chan, 2015