Conspiritualité, pastel Q et autres cabales

Opening: November 7, 2024 at 5:30 pm

Youth focused workshop: Saturday November 23, 2024. More details to come soon.

Artist talk: Saturday November 23, 2024 from 2:30 to 3:30 pm

Consult the press release.

Transforming Societal Trends with a Single, Playful Gesture

In her recent work, Jacinthe Loranger has been examining codes that stem from conspiracy theories. Although popular for centuries, recent societal events, such as the pandemic and the massive influx of demagogic discourse in the political arena, have propelled them to the forefront: conspiracy theories evolve alongside the specific imaginaries they give rise to. These trains of thought fascinate Loranger, and she has been working for over a year on the particular iconographies that these theories call forth, inserting them into her multidisciplinary installations.

Her latest explorations include imagery taken from old manuscript illuminations made in the Middle Ages, which she dissects and updates in scope. Using artificial intelligence, she generates new scenes and brings them into two distinct eras that have a gloomy, slightly dissonant atmosphere emerging. The glitches of an AI still in its beginnings are perhaps, in form and content, akin to all these mental shifts, supporting these QAnon-style conspiracies and issues that stem, for the most part but not only, from a booming and increasingly accessible American right-wing.

In addition to the political issues these theories raise, and in keeping with her always playful approach to her research subjects, Loranger’s main concern is to shed light on some of society’s curious trends. What effects do these currents of thought that become popular at the snap of a finger have on us and the world? Building on her reflections on conspiracy, which were at the core of her recent exhibition at l’Écart last winter, in her new work at CIRCA, Loranger is turning her attention to a catchword researchers at Concordia University evoked: conspirituality. She thus finds herself at the crossroads of current modes of conspiracy and spirituality, working to target what acts or resonates between the two. Breaking with the gothic character of her l’Écart exhibition, this project is more concerned with the soft, the gentle.

In an unusual way, Loranger transforms CIRCA’s space into a kind of new-genre spa, drawing inspiration from yoga salons and the symbols of today’s fashionable wellness rituals. While her presentations often combine, but are not confined to, ceramic sculptures and large-format drawings, and sometimes add prints or artist’s books, here Loranger places greater emphasis on the installation aspect of her proposal. She creates a relaxation room with giant cushions and a wall of constellations, featuring various astrological signs: everything is in place for an uplifting spiritual pilgrimage. The meticulously chosen pastel colours and soundtrack, reminiscent of 4th-dimensional YouTube channels, contribute to the ethereal, airy atmosphere that transfigures the exhibition space – and takes a new, unexpected look at reality.

In this way, Loranger’s work continues to involve narrative, diversion and manipulation. What emerges is a redefinition of the experiences that we can have of contemporary art. The result is a panorama of contours oscillating between kitsch and trash, echoing within the walls of CIRCA.

-Text by Galadriel Avon