Naturfact
René-Bureau Museum of Geology and scientific collection vitrines, Laval University, Quebec, Canada, 2023
The exhibition Naturfact is based on the work of Geneviève Chevalier, Danielle Cormier, Mathilde Demoli, Philip Gagnon and Anne-Marie Groulx, and is housed in display cases dedicated to the presentation of Université Laval's scientific collections - those of the René-Bureau Geology Museum, located in the Adrien-Pouliot Pavilion; of the Biology Department, in the Alexandre-Vachon Pavilion, and of the University, in the Louis-Jacques-Casault Pavilion. Produced in the context of a research-creation project by Geneviève Chevalier (FRQSC 2020-2023) in which the participating artists took part, Naturfact makes an immediate and critical reference to the Western museum tradition and to a dualistic typology that separates nature and culture. Addressing the question of scientific knowledge, the project explores the museum collection as practice and form, as well as the display of specimens in tableaux in the University's showcases.
The works in Naturfact are closely or distantly related to specimens from the University's scientific collections, while reflecting on the institutional context in which these minerals and living beings, such as birds, are conserved and exhibited. The works draw on artistic, philosophical, sociological and mathematical perspectives to bring together the closed world of the museum and the world outside its walls, in the changing conditions imposed by the climate and biodiversity crises.
Images below: Geneviève Chevalier (Towering/The Instability); overview of vitrines no15 (Geneviève Chevalier) & no16 (Anne-Marie Groulx); Anne-Marie Groulx (Une question structurelle cristalline/textile); Danielle Cormier (Un et Deux objets - révolutions, translation); Philip Gagnon (René-Bureau à Olivier-Rabeau); Mathilde Demoli (En éveil).
Photo credit: Michel Boucher
