COLLECTOR, out and about

Exhibiting Collector at the FOFA show (Contested Site:Archives and the City) was an experiment, to say the least. Somehow, Montreal was able to escape the Franken-storm and there were only two days of rain, on November 2nd and 3rd. I had prepared the piece for this by giving it an all-over coat of wax. Over the course of the exhibit, I started noticing that the upper part of the sculpture was slowly starting to lean to one side. I would attribute this to the wind, causing the piece to subtly rock back and forth during the time that it was outside, causing its weight to progressively start favoring one side over the other. After the first week, I was forced to maintain its position by rigging it to the "base" (the cart) at the center and also the side, to avoid its slanting syndrome from becoming irreversible. The wires seemed to do the trick, and gave me enough confidence to take the sculpture out for a stroll. I was afraid to bring it too far, so I gave myself the block surrounding the EV building (Ste-Catherine to Guy, then up to de Maisonneuve, then to the back alley where the loading dock for the school is, leading to Mackay and down to Ste-Catherine to place it back in the Sculpture Garden Courtyard). I wanted to place the sculpture within the cityscape, and see it juxtaposed with different architectures, and also confront the passersby with an object that is foreign to their surroundings (despite the fact that the sculpture is made up from elements of their surroundings). Here are a few photos that I took along the way: