Horaire- Symposium (2016)

Illumination (2016)

Illumination: Valerie LeBlanc and Daniel H. Dugas
for the Poetic License Week, September 3-11, 2016

For this collaborative work, we have juxtaposed texts to appear as graffiti on the hull of a boat. The left and right hands both speak to the challenges of forging a path through life. The audio, wind from the sea, speaks for everyone.

Illumination from Basic Bruegel on Vimeo.

Kistrech Poetry Festival (2016)

We have been (Valerie LeBlanc and Daniel H. Dugas) invited to participate in the Kistrech Poetry Festival 2016 in Kissi, Kenya, October 3 – 8, 2016. We will also present a paper entitled Flow: Big Waters at Kisii University. We would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts and the New Brunswick Arts Board for their assistance.

Kistrech Poetry Festival
Welcome to the 4th edition of Kistrech Poetry Festival in Kenya. This year’s event is seen to be unique since it will run alongside Kisii University Cultural Week. The venue, being at the University ground, will accord visiting poets an opportunity to interact and share with University student-poets, upcoming writers and lecturers.

KISTRECH POETRY FESTIVAL IN KENYA 2016
The Word is Not Alone. It is Part of the Whole
KISII UNIVERSITY
3rd to 8th October 2016

Website

http://2016.festival.kistrech.org/

This is not a bikini (2016)

On July 5, 1946, five days after the explosion of a nuclear bomb on Bikini Atoll, French automobile engineer and clothes designer Louis Reard unveiled the first bikini bathing suit to the world. It was daring and shocking. Reard’s inspiration was the nuclear blast on the tiny Pacific Ocean atoll of the same name. The French newspaper Le Monde said that the word ‘bikini’ was as lashing as the atomic explosion, that it had annihilated clothing as we knew it, and brought forward an extreme minimization of modesty. Some called it ‘the first a(na)tomic bathing suit in the world’ (… la première bombe an-atomique).

But the bikini is not a modern idea; the Greeks and the Romans had it all figured out. In 1959, the Italian archaeologist, Gino Vinicio Gentili, excavated the ‘bikini girls mosaic’ at the Villa Romana del Casale. This artwork entitled Coronation of the Winner shows young women in two-piece suits performing various sports. Perhaps the discovery of the bikini girls mosaic paved the road for even more daring inventions. In 1964 fashion designer Rudi Gernreich unveiled the monokini, the first topless swimsuit for women. Gernreich believed that the prefix “bi” as in bikini meant two. He was wrong. Similarly to the famous butterfly’s wings in Brazil, this mistake started to create a series of storms across the globe. All kinds of swimsuits were invented based on the same assumption: microkini, tankini, trikini and now the famous burkini.

According to the Wikitionary, kini means many things. It is an alcoholic beverage in Hawaïan, a woman in To’abaita, the adverb now in Malay, to nip in Maori and KINI is a radio station in Nebraska. Unfortunately, kini has nothing to do with the lower part of a two-piece swimsuit. By naming the Islamic inspired swimsuit burkini, Aheda Zanetti, the fashion designer who created the garment, only perpetuated the misconception. There is nothing ‘kini’ about the burkini. In fact, the burkini is similar to the 1800’s bathing gowns that embodied Victorian ideals of religious morality and prudery. The problem with the construction of this word is that when we talk about the burkini, we invoke the bikini. In our minds, we allude to revealing the body of the swimmer, while in fact the burkini is covering that same body. It is an oxymoron like ‘sweet agony’ or ‘true myth’. If the bikini was born out of an explosion, the burkini is closer to an implosion. The bikini fashion started with a bang while the burkini is threatening to close the trend with a whimper.

Nevertheless, the dress code war that is being waged in France is not new. What is sanctioned and what is forbidden to wear on a beach is part of a long-time struggle to break away from the iron collar of modesty. In 1921, Louise Rosine, a writer from California, was arrested in Atlantic City for rolling down her stockings and showing her bare knees on a public beach. She fought back saying that it was ‘none of Atlantic City’s business to roll them up or down’ and she threatened to bring the City to court. Before that, in 1907, the Waverly Shire Council in Sydney, Australia required the wearing of a skirt-like tunic by male bathers. Mayor, R. G. Watkins said:

After contact with water… the V-trunks favoured by many of the male bathers show up the figure… in a very much worse manner than if they were nude… people who patronize them should not be compelled to overlook bathers whom they do not agree with.

Soon after, the Sydney bathing costume protests erupted. Thousands of male surf bathing enthusiasts wearing women’s clothing made a point to show the ridiculousness of the proposed regulations.

What we should have learned by now is that people should be permitted to decide for themselves. If people want to wear bikinis, let them wear bikinis, if they want to go to the beach in long swimming gowns, let them do so. We know that “those who look directly at [a nuclear] blast could experience eye damage ranging from temporary blindness to severe burns on the retina.” The problem here is that explosion and implosion are two different ways to detonate nuclear weapons. The advice is not to look at the blast, but in the battle royal between fashion police and morality squads, we have decided to stare.

Daniel H. Dugas
3 September 2016

NOTES

• Le Monde, 1947,  ‘Bikini, ce mot cinglant comme l’explosion même … correspondant au niveau du vêtement de plage à un anéantissement de la surface vêtue; à une minimisation extrême de la pudeur.’
• For an informative write-up about the transformation of swimsuit through the ages see The Evolution Of The Bathing Suit From The 1800s Until Today
• Bikini Girls mosaic: Villa Romana del Casale
• KINI 96.1 FM is a radio station broadcasting a Variety music format.
• Louise Rosine: Keep her knees bare in Atlantic City jail, The New York Times, September 4, 1921.
• For Mayor R. G. Watkins’ comments see ‘Tourism and Australian Beach Cultures: Revealing Bodies‘, Christine Metusela, Gordon Waitt, Channel View Publications, Toronto, 2012, p. 32.
• Sydney bathing costume protests: Fun on the Beaches, The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 23 Oct 1907
• Bathing Machine: Sea-Side Etiquette, Victoriana Magazine
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Radiation
• TOP IMAGE : The Delineator magazine

Le modèle et la copie (2016)

Le simulacre n’est jamais ce qui cache la vérité – c’est la vérité qui cache qu’il n’y en a pas.
Jean Baudrillard

Je croyais que Chirac était du marbre dont on fait les statues.
En réalité il est de la faïence dont on fait les bidets.
Marie-France Garaud

L’hôtel Lord Elgin d’Ottawa a été nommé en l’honneur de James Bruce, le 8e comte d’Elgin, gouverneur général du Canada-Uni de 1847 à 1854. Dans une alcôve du hall d’entrée de l’hôtel, on a placé un buste en son honneur. Comme j’aime toucher à tout, j’ai tapé sur sa tête et j’ai été surpris de constater que l’homme n’était pas fait en marbre, mais en fibre de verre! Je me disais qu’on avait dû mettre l’original en lieu sûr, que ce faux marbre n’était là que pour des questions d’assurances ou de nettoyage. Peu importe la raison, son état révélait un lien de filiation des plus intéressant.

Le père de James s’appelait Thomas Bruce, c’était un aristocrate et un homme militaire qui portait plusieurs titres dont celui de 7e compte d’Elgin. Au début du 19^e siècle, il était ambassadeur britannique à Constantinople, la capitale de l’Empire ottoman. La Grèce qu’on disait « ottomane » à l’époque faisait partie de l’empire et l’ambassadeur, qui avait une fascination toute particulière pour la Grèce, parcourait son territoire comme un véritable golden retriever. La pie voleuse plénipotentiaire, grande receleuse, a enlevé de l’Acropole d’Athènes des centaines de statues et les a vendus au British Museum. Parmi son butin, il y avait 12 statues des frontons, 156 plaques de la frise et 13 métopes; la frise du temple d’Athéna Niké et une cariatide de l’Érechthéion! Ces marbres qu’on appelle maintenant les Marbres d’Elgin (comme quoi le crime paie, et ce même si le 7^e comte a vendu le matériel à perte) constituent aujourd’hui l’une des pièces maîtresses du musée britannique. La Grèce réclame depuis longtemps le rapatriement des marbres, mais le musée a toujours prétendu être le gardien du patrimoine culturel de l’humanité et n’a jamais accepté de les rendre.

Notre illustre gouverneur général, grand administrateur colonial, avait un pedigree des plus impressionnants, son beau-père n’était nul autre que John George Lambton, 1er comte de Durham, l’auteur du terrifiant Rapport Durham et son père, on l’a vu, était un statuomaniaque international. Notre comte n’est toutefois pas en reste; il a été vice-roi des Indes et a laissé sa marque sur la scène internationale en ordonnant, durant la seconde guerre de l’opium, la destruction du Palais d’été, jardin impérial de Pékin. Quoi qu’il en soit, la statue du fils en fibre de verre qui siège aujourd’hui à l’hôtel semble être la conséquence d’une certaine justice immanente, comme si le fils payait en substance les crimes de son père. Ce qui est plus drôle, c’est qu’en tapant sur le buste, il sonne creux comme pour nous rappeler que l’Histoire n’est pas aussi pleine qu’elle le clame.

Daniel H. Dugas
le 22 août 2016

Notes

Le point de vue du musée britannique :
The Parthenon Sculptures, The British Museum

Le point de vue du gouvernement grecque :
Demands of the Greek government

Pour un exposé favorable des politiques de Lord Elgin, voir : The voice of the people “Lord Elgin” (N.F.B. 1959)

Symposium d’art/nature (2016)

Valerie LeBlanc et moi sommes très heureux de faire partie du prochain Symposium d’art/nature qui se tiendra du 22 septembre au 2 octobre 2016 à Moncton, au Parc Écologique du Millénaire. Notre projet Visible / Invisible est un dialogue entre la matérialité du monde et la matérialité de l’espace.

Le Symposium d’art/nature : Moncton est une initiative du Département d’arts visuels et du Département de sociologie de l’Université de Moncton, de la Galerie d’art Louise et Reuben-Cohen et de l’Association acadienne des artistes professionnel.le.s du Nouveau-Brunswick.

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People Carrying Signs (2016)

People carrying signs

Two images
of people carrying signs
supporting
a refinery
Wanting
a pipeline

Then it was Seadade
A chemical plant and an oil processing temple
along the shores of Biscayne Bay

Now it’s Energy East
A continental pipeline
to be laid across the land
over rivers and rivers and rivers
until it reaches the edge of the Bay of Fundy

Two images
of people carrying signs
of old folks and kids alike

The man with the cigarette in his mouth
and the woman with the pointy glasses
never saw their dream come true

But what about the YES PIPELINE kid
Will she be part of the sacrifice?

I don’t think
they understood then
or understand now
what is at stake
the gamble at play

The sheen of oil is making us mad
when we are willing to risk everything
to ease our pains

The sheen of oil is making us mad
when we believe that this endless tube of tar is not the Moloch
to which we will have to feed our own

Daniel H Dugas
August 12, 2016

Tales of two bays

The Bay of Fundy in Canada and Biscayne Bay in Florida are separated by more than 3,000 kilometers. At first glance, they seem to be worlds apart, but looking back into archival material, we realize that these two ecosystems have a shared history with industrialization. In this drama of progress we find two key players: K. C. Irving, one of Canada’s foremost 20th century entrepreneurs and Daniel K. Ludwig, shipping magnate and businessman with numerous companies, sometimes referred to as the American Onassis.

In 1959, Ludwig began buying acreages in South Dade, Florida to build a deepwater port and a refinery on a bayfront site east of Homestead Air Force Base. The project called Seadade was approved in 1962 and was supported by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, but soon faced growing opposition from the Safe Progress Association (SPA). The SPA argued that Biscayne Bay, a warm and shallow, salt lagoon could be easily and irreversibly harmed by industrial pollution. Support for the project faded and in 1968 the American Congress passed the Biscayne National Monument Act, establishing a 96,000 acre preserve.

The industrial developments threatening Biscayne Bay are not isolated circumstances, they are happening everywhere in the world. The geological makeup of the Bay of Fundy in Canada seems to be diametrically opposite to the one of Biscayne Bay. Fundy is known to have the highest tides in the world whereas Biscayne Bay is a shallow semi-enclosed lagoon. But similarities emerge when we look at the relationship between humans and these ecosystems. The first parallel is between the historical players behind the refineries of Seadade and the Energy East project. Energy East would send its tar sands oil across a vast section of North America to Irving’s refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick. The narratives arcs of the two tycoons followed similar trajectories: Ludwig was born in 1887 and Irving the founder of Irving’s empire, was also born just about the same time, in 1899. Both magnates died the same year, in 1992. The two of them were involved in a wide range of holdings, shipbuilding, pulp paper and oil refinery among other things. Their fortunes were equally formidable. In 1982, Ludwig was #1 on the first Forbes 400 “Richest Americans” list, while Fortune Magazine in 1989 listed K. C. Irving as the 11th wealthiest man on earth.

There is a second connection between Biscayne Bay and the Bay of Fundy. Both locations have nuclear plants built on their shores. The Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station was built just next to Biscayne National Park in 1973 while the construction of Point Lepreau in New Brunswick was started in1975. Both stations have had their share of safety problems in the past and are still plagued with ongoing problems today

The two bodies of water, on the Atlantic coast of North America, are magnificent. They are true natural wonders of the world. The question is why pristine areas are such magnets for big polluters? Why do they have to choose the most biologically diverse ecosystems to set up shop? If Biscayne Bay managed to avoid Seadade, can the Bay of Fundy do the same with Energy East? The two already have their own nuclear stations, their own safety, and cost management conundrums, it seems that this should be enough danger to deal with.

Daniel H Dugas
August 14, 2016

Notes

The Florida Experience: Land and Water Policy in a Growth State, Mix-up on South Bay, Luther J. Carter, RFF Press, New York, 1975p 157-192.

Daniel Ludwig, Billionaire Businessman, Dies at 95, The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/29/us/daniel-ludwig-billionaire-businessman-dies-at-95.html?pagewanted=all

K. C. Irving, 93, Industrial Tycoon Dominant in Canadian Province, The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/14/world/k-c-irving-93-industrial-tycoon-dominant-in-canadian-province.html

Study shows severe nuclear accident at Point Lepreau 40 times more likely than initially thought:
https://www.conservationcouncil.ca/study-shows-severe-nuclear-accident-at-point-lepreau-40-times-more-likely-than-initially-thought/

Evidence of salt plume under Turkey Point nuclear plant goes back years:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article73233802.html

Nuclear energy, David Suzuki:
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/climate-change/science/energy/nuclear-energy/
‘Nuclear power creates radioactive waste for which there is no accepted method of safely managing or storing. It is also prohibitively expensive.’

SAFE PROGRESS ASSOCIATION, INC. is a business entity formed in Florida and is a Domestic Non-Profit under local business registration regulations. Having the registration number 703668, according to the official registry, it is now Inactive. http://www.associationdatabase.org/safe-progress-association-inc

IMAGE CREDIT
Left: Pro Seadade demonstrators, January 23, 1963. South Florida History Magazine, Vol. 23, no 1, Winter 1995. / Middle: 18th-century depiction of the Moloch idol from Johann Lund’s Die Alten Jüdischen Heiligthümer (1711, 1738). / Right: Video still from CTV Atlantic ‘Pipeline arguments at NEB hearings’ by Ashley Blackford, August 8, 2016.

Impossible Colors (2016)

Impossible Colors

Reddish-Green and Yellowish-Blue are known as impossible colors or forbidden colors. Set side by side, it is said that the human eye could not see them, that their light frequencies would cancel each other, rendering them invisible. Researchers say that they can be seen if one looks ‘the right way’.

The boundaries between colors are akin to those between logic and dreams, they too can produce an impossible meaning if we mix them.

2016 Impossible Colors, HD video, 11 min 26 sec
(also designed as a 4 channels video installation)
– Red, HD video, 2 min 41 sec
– Green, HD video, 3 min 41 sec
– Bleu, HD video, 2 min 43 sec
– Yellow, HD video, 2 min 32 sec

Installation view

Citations gratuites – Caraquet (2016)

Samedi 6 aout 2016
9 h – 11 h Un poète au Marché avec Daniel H. Dugas. Interventions poétiques publiques Citations gratuites. //// Marché régional de Caraquet – Gratuit

Au marché avec Joanie Roy et Jonathan Roy
Photos : Valerie LeBlanc

Leaving São Paulo (2016)

Valerie LeBlanc and I just finished Leaving São Paulo, a six-part video project. We also made a fotonovela with the photo stills as well as a playlist with the music. We have set up a website where you can see one of the videos (on Vimeo), hear all of the music (on Soundcloud) and read/look at the fotonovela (on ISSUU). Leaving São Paulo has been designed for both single-channel presentation and a six-channel installation.

https://leavingsaopauloblog.wordpress.com