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THE ARTWORK
THE ARTWORK
LOOP is a retro-futuristic and interactive artwork by Olivier Girouard, Jonathan Villeneuve and Ottoblix.
A hybrid between the zoetrope, an optical toy invented in the 19th century, the music box and the railway handcar, LOOP invites the public to take a seat inside one of its 12 giant loops, pump the bar and witness visual stories inspired by Quebec literature come to life as if by magic.
THE artists
THE artists
OLIVIER GIROUARD & JONATHAN VILLENEUVE
Jonathan Villeneuve (left) & Olivier Girouard (right)
© Quartier des Spectacles
Sound-passionate Olivier Girouard navigates his relationship with the world through listening. With the organization Ekumen, which he has led for 10 years now, he questions the environmental impact of art. He creates works to beautify and transform public space by trying to redefine what it means to live together.
For more than ten years, Jonathan Villeneuve has created installations and public artworks that activate digital and electromechanical technologies. His works move, emit light and produce sound, letting the visitor assume their imaginary function. Sometimes subtle, other times very obvious, the technological dimension is nevertheless always at work.
OTTOBLIX
The team behind the design of LOOP's animations is Ottoblix, a Montreal-based multidisciplinary creative studio that fuses animation, graphic design and visual effects.
For LOOP, Ottoblix has brought to life the drawings of Quebec illustrators, inspired by the literary works of the province's most renowned authors.
Creative Intent
Creative Intent
Olivier Girouard describes the concept of LOOP as “the meeting between humans, a strange mechanic and the imaginary”.
According to the team behind LOOP, the inspiration grew as Jonathan returned from a trip to Berlin, where he visited the Technology Museum. He saw all kinds of mechanical inventions there, including the zoetrope, a device, from before movies were invented that animates a series of images when you spin its cylinder.
Then, thinking of hamster wheels, Jonathan and Olivier decided to build a vertical zoetrope. They also wanted to push further and combine two other mechanical elements: the railway handcar (like the ones made famous by Bugs Bunny cartoons), and the music box.
Jonathan Villeneuve also emphasizes the retrofuturistic inspiration of the installation. Indeed, the team reveals wanting to play with "the opposition between futuristic machines and primitive technology."
"We talk about it as an artwork, but others describe it as a merry-go-round. The electrician, on the other hand, calls it a luminaire! Everyone is right. Some visitors will want to ride it, crank the handle, and have fun with the installation. Others will prefer to admire it from afar. So many possibilities for wonderment!."
-Oliver Girouard
Artistic Approach
Artistic Approach
The conception, design and development of LOOP was quite the challenge, as it relied on unforgiving mechanical concepts such as the zoetrope and the railway handcar.
On the other hand, the creators have allowed themselves a certain degree of freedom and playfulness in the development of the musical instrument installed at the heart of LOOP, which ultimately transforms the installation into a music box.
Indeed, after exploring the sounds of instruments of all shapes and forms, and from all over the world, the creators invented an instrument from scratch for LOOP: chimes made of piano hammers and a xylophone keyboard, whose sound is amplified by the very structure of LOOP, which acts as a soundbox.
The instrument is activated by the movement of the lever inside the loops, depending on the speed you give it!