Jean-François Cantin

Propos type, 1977

© The Estate of Jean-François Cantin

Jean-François Cantin, Propos type, © The Estate of Jean-François Cantin
Artist
Jean-François Cantin
Title
Propos type
Dimensions and medium
Black and white video, mute, 30 min, television, masking tape, and elastic tape
Artwork description
In 1978, Jean-François Cantin performed Propos type as part of a program of “tele-performances” for the Fifth Network/Cinquième réseau conference in Toronto. Using an elastic band attached to the bottom of a television screen, he interacted with a video of himself manipulating an elastic band attached to a static camera. As an extension of the representational space of the video and real space, the elastic allows viewers to interact with the video content as well. In addition, Cantin wrapped the television monitor in masking tape while also “taping” some of the participants, forming a kind of dialogue whereby they became both the subject and object of the work. Further reassessing the role of the artist and the public in the work of art, the video installation version of Propos type reuses elements from the aforementioned performance (the television, video, and elastic band), as well as an image of a screen projected on a screen. Through complex semantic relationships, the work links and blurs the boundaries between the videographic space and real space, the past and the present, and notions of creator and participant.

See Also

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