Sabrina Ratté (born in 1982), Contre-espace, 2022, 4K video projected on the facade of Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion at the MMFA, 4 min 38 s (looped). Courtesy of the artist and ELLEPHANT Gallery, Montreal. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley
Sabrina Ratté (born in 1982), Contre-espace, 2022, 4K video projected on the facade of Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion at the MMFA, 4 min 38 s (looped). Courtesy of the artist and ELLEPHANT Gallery, Montreal. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley
Contre-espace
The MMFA is putting digital art in the spotlight with the Digital Canvas, which allows for the projection of digital artworks onto the facade of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, on the north side of Sherbrooke Street. From June 10 to December 18, 2022, the work Contre-espace by multidisciplinary artist Sabrina Ratté will light up the facade every night, from sunset until 11 p.m.
An interplay of architecture and landscape
Using video synthesizers and 3D animation, Contre-espace creates an interaction between architecture and landscape, and prompts a reflection on the way in which what is built sculpts the space.
Whether by windows that hem in the view, or by columns or reflections that fragment it, how we perceive a space is inevitably shaped by the structures that delimit it. A space is defined by its borders.
Contre-espace evokes horizons that transcend the architecture, creating a tension between the city’s walls and the expanse of poetry they can inspire.
The facade of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion becomes a canvas onto which a landscape is drawn from electronic and digital lights. The image – or mirage – takes shape on the wall, opening up a field of possibilities. It is an encounter between stone and light, between surface and depth, between the physical and the virtual world.
About the artist
Sabrina Ratté is a Montreal artist who is interested in exploring digital imagery in its many expressions, including in combination with analog video, 3D animation, photography, printing, sculpture, virtual reality and installations. The psychological influence that physical and digital spaces exert on our perception of the world, and our relationship with the virtual dimension of existence are common themes in her work.
Ratté was shortlisted for the prestigious Sobey Art Award in 2019 and 2020. Her work has been presented in numerous institutions around the world, including Laforet Museum Harajuku, in Tokyo, the Centre Pompidou, in Paris, the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec, in Quebec City, the Thoma Foundation, in Santa Fe, the PHI Centre, in Montreal, the Whitney Museum of Art, in New York, the Chronus Art Center, in Shanghai, and Museum of the Moving Image, in New York. Her work is currently the subject of a solo exhibition at the Gaîté Lyrique, in Paris.
Sabrina Ratté. Photo Ian Lagarde
Credits and acknowledgements
This project has been made possible thanks to the financial support of Tourisme Montréal’s Fonds de maintien des actifs stratégiques en tourisme (FMAST) program, in collaboration with the Gouvernement du Québec.
Sabrina Ratté. Photo Ian Lagarde
