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The Cosmos in Which We Are :: Opening at Eastern Edge Gallery
By Martin Poole

The Cosmos in Which We Are, a luminous and thought-provoking installation, will open at Eastern Edge Gallery on Saturday, February 15, 2014. The opening for this exhibit will be from 7 -9pm and hosted by the artist, Pascal Dufaux (Montreal), along with staff and volunteers of the gallery. Also hosting will be invited guest Erin Turcke, a certified sommelier and imaginative wine guru from Raymonds restaurant, who will be pairing wines in tandem with this event.

So, a little of what Dufaux’s installation has to offer:

Although I have yet to properly see this work for myself, I have read, watched, and listened to enough media to say that Dufaux is mediating a rare balance between technology and personality, such that, his ‘kinetic’ sculpture requires the personality of the viewer to complete the artistic process. Anyone experiencing this work will become quickly engrossed, setting the balance of subjective interest, and passive determination; mind and body, but each in turn having an interest in the other. The machine and the viewer becomes bound in a contingent relationship. A similar feature which was found in Kyle Whitehead’s Circles of Confusion, showcased at Eastern Edge last spring.

Dufaux’s sculpture will appear in the center of the gallery floor. While being probed by the curious eyes of the public the sculpture will create a movie in real-time of its surroundings. The movie will be projected simultaneously on a wall within the gallery, showing our own gallery experience through the neutral eyes of the device itself. Our subjective experience, and our hopes for freedom in this seemingly deterministic model, becomes fragmented and served to us as another object hanging on the wall.

Dufaux’s Cosmos aims to show an exceedingly difficult concept; a topic which has tormented philosophers for millenia, which is, what we think we know. We all share the same (meta)physical predicament, with our notions of freedom and coincidence only to realize that the reality where we manifest such beliefs is already fragmented by our senses, our memories, and our language. Our very being is a simultaneous illustration of our limitations and our ability. If we are not able to fully experience reality by virtue of our limited perception, then how do we know anything? Dufaux’s Cosmos mimics our predicament with a rotating mechanistic eye, which slowly becomes another observer in the room, capturing and casting fragments of the whole.

Along with the art itself, there will be a talk by Dufaux and a period of discussion. Eastern Edge Gallery—being the nerve centre of thinking artistically within and outside of the province—has also invited Erin Turcke to take part in the experience. Turcke has selected and will present two wines based on her interpretation of the Cosmos, adding a new dimension to the colloquialism “food for thought.” In its most conventional use, wine is usually drank alone, or paired with food. Turcke however has broken this convention by inviting yet another sense to explore this artwork – taste.

This will be a tremendous affair for the art enthusiast, wine aficionado, and socialite alike. Or just drop in to hang out!

February 15 :: 7 – 9 pm :: Eastern Edge Gallery :: Admission Free