Yann Pocreau
(Québec, Canada)

Se partager l’espace
Yann Pocreau is interested in the possibility of an empathic relationship between the body and structures in the built environment. He considers buildings as both physical and psychic envelopes – in which light becomes a third, metaphysical envelope – and he discovers them by testing with his own body the different positions that the spaces suggest to him. Although he often chooses to be photographed in places in transition – abandoned, under renovation – the site of a recent fire in which he resided for the series Se partager l’espace [Sharing the Space] (2011) shows for the first time the present tense of a trauma. There, his curled-up body soon forsakes its prostration, stands up to claim its share of the space, and takes stock of the damage.
Presented by Contact Image
Born in 1980 in Quebec, Yann Pocreau lives and works in Montreal. He is a photographer, curator, and art critic. He has had solo exhibitions at the Centro Matadero in Huesca, Spain (2007), B-Gallery in Brussels (2008), and Usine C (2008) and Galerie Lilian Rodriguez (2008, 2010) in Montreal. He has also participated in some twenty group shows, including Out of Grace at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery (2010), Basculer at the Galerie de l’UQAM (2007), Québec Gold at the Palais du Tau in Reims, France (2008), and the Forum européen de la jeune création at the Casino Luxembourg (2007).
PUBLIC SPACE INTERVENTIONS
5 large format prints installed on building walls, in and around the Arsenal
Consult the map for the exact locations
Opening – Thursday Sept. 8, 2011 at 6 pm at the Arsenal (meet the artist)
Walking tour of Yann Pocreau’s work, Sunday Oct. 2, 2011 at 2 pm (departure from Metro Lionel-Groulx
Free activity organized for the Journées de la culture (bilingual)