Description
Promenades pour deux rêves d’hiver was series of performances presented during a winter residency in the month of February 2002. Over the course of the month, the artist took short walks through the streets of Granby, Québec pulling a small hand-made chair attached with skis. When there was not enough snow, wheels were attached to the skis. The seat of the chair was covered with fur. Placed on the seat was a small, battery powered television monitor. For some walks, the monitor played only video static or noise, also know as “snow”. On others the monitor played a video of a fire place via a portable VCR carried by the artist.
In another variation of the series of performances, for Mardi Gras, Karen dressed up in a costume with a white lab coat and balaclava covered with white plastic utensils, white gloves and white make-up on her face. On the chair was a scale model of an elaborate ski jump made of butter placed on a raised platter, and on each side of it was placed a block of ice in the shape of a loaf of bread. She walked down the main commercial street of Granby and went into each store offering the sales people a toothpick wrapped with a paper that had the message “J’aime l’hiver, j’hais l’hiver” (I love winter, I hate winter).
When the chair on skis was not in use, it was displayed in the storefront window at 210 rue Principal. In another intervention, the artist distributed a number of loaves of bread made of ice with candles in them around the town.
Statement
Promenades pour deux rêves d’hiver explored winter themes. It was inspired by several cultural practices. Mummering is a local custom in Newfoundland, where town’s people disguise themselves under bedsheets and enter a neighbour’s house where the neighbour bribes them with jokes and drinks to find out who they are. The chair on skis was something I saw when I was on a residency in Finland called a Finnish kicksled. The performances also reference Mardi Gras and the winter Olympics which were happening in Salt Lake City at the same time.
Karen Trask & Don Goodes, 2024
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Press release:
Promenades for two winter dreams
I hate winter, I love winter
Hot, cold, ice, fire.
The meeting point of two contradictory dreams
Bend them, stretch them,
Reconstruct deconstruct to absurdity.
Long live winter, summer is coming!
In the expanse of a wintry landscape, a small chair abandoned on a hill gently accumulates white flakes carried by the wind. A sign of abandonment and isolation, this scene is like something out of a dream…
A warm loaf of bread nestled in a snow bank; a reassuring hand slices the steaming bread while a voice from nowhere says: “If you want butter, you have to go home”.
Karen Trask draws her inspiration from memories, childhood and dreams. She shapes matter, words and images with the delicacy and rigour of simplicity. Her “Promenades pour deux rêves d’hiver” are symbolic actions built essentially around four elements: butter, bread, fire and snow. They take place in everyday life and draw on the ancient rites associated with “Mardi Gras”.
These strolls through the white days of winter will be transposed into a video installation presented in the window of a shop in downtown Granby. The public will then be invited to meet the artist in the soothing warmth and smell of freshly baked bread.
SuprA rURal, 3rd imperial, Granby, Quebec, February 2002
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Communiqué de presse :
Promenades pour deux rêves d’hiver
J’haïs l’hiver, j’adore l’hiver
Chaud, froid, glace, feu.
Deux rêves contradictoires se rencontrent.
Je les manipule, je les étire,
Je les reconstruis et les déconstruis jusqu’à l’absurde.
Vive l’hiver, l’été s’en vient!
Dans l’étendue austère d’un paysage hivernal, une petite chaise abandonnée sur une butte accumule doucement les flacons blancs que le vent charrie. Signe d’abandon, d’isolement, cette scène est sortie d’un songe…
Un pain chaud blotti dans un banc de neige ; une main bienveillante, rassurante tranche le pain fumant alors qu’une voix venue de nulle part dit: “Si vous voulez du beurre, il faut rentrer à la maison”.
Karen Trask puise son inspiration dans les souvenirs, l’enfance et les rêves. Elle façonne la matière, les mots, les images avec la délicatesse et la rigueur du dépouillement. Ses “Promenades pour deux rêves d’hiver” sont des actions symboliques construites essentiellement autour de quatre éléments : le beurre, le pain, le feu, la neige. Elles prennent place dans le quotidien et puisent dans les rites anciens lies au “Mardi gras”.
Promenades pour aller à la rencontre de l’autre, au hasard des jours blancs de l’hiver, qui seront ensuite transposées en une installation-vidéo présentée dans la vitrine d’un commerce du centre-ville de Granby. Puis, le public sera convié à une rencontre avec l’artiste dans la chaleur et l’odeur apaisantes du pain fraîchement cuit.
SuprA rURal, 3rd imperial, Granby, Quebec, février 2002
