À l'antenne

Distinctions

Discipline : Art & Photography

Categories : Art Projects / Artwork - Public Space : Silver certification

À l'antenne is a temporary work of art created as part of an invitation-only competition organized on the occasion of the celebrations of entomophilia, a series of events by Espace pour la vie, presented at Frédéric-Back Park.

Theme

Antenna — Definitions:

1. A paired organ, often whip-shaped, mobile, carried by the heads of antennate arthropods. Organs of touch and olfaction, antennas may also have auditory functions.
2. A device for radiating or receiving radio waves in space.
3. An element dependent on an organization, a main establishment, and detached by it outside to represent it.

By emphasizing the antennas, these perfectly fascinating and ultrasensitive organs, we aimed to highlight this "technological" member and appreciate insects and their unknown aspects.

In insects, antennas are sensory organs carried on the head that primarily serve for smell but also for touch and taste through the presence of sensilla. They can detect movements and orientation, odors, sounds, humidity, and a variety of chemical signals (pheromones). They can also serve as tactile organs to analyze their environment, a means of communication for mating, or even a means of defense.

During the International Day for Biological Diversity in the summer of 2023, Frédéric-Back Park somewhat became the extra-muros antenna of the Montréal Insectarium, an ambassador tasked with delivering its message of enhancing the value of insects to the widest possible audience.

Two pairs of monumental antennas served as a visual signal for the project, representing both a meeting in the tall grasses between two insects and a reference to telecommunications antennas.

The work is inspired by the black longhorn beetle, an insect whose antenna length exceeds that of its body, and the white admiral, a butterfly that is Québec's emblematic insect. These species well represent the two poles of the relationship people have with insects, between enchantment and fear. 

Along the winding path, visitors could see the recognizable and intriguing shapes of two pairs of antennas from a distance, midway up the slope.

In the vast expanse of the park, the encounter between these creatures, of which only the antennas are visible above the grass, is without scale. In the absence of most usual landmarks, their size and the distance at which they are located are uncertain.

Filiform and of disproportionate size, compared to any human organ, they lead us to imagine how insects perceive their environment.

Materiality

The antennas are constructed from welded steel pieces with a rusty finish and willow branches. The steel was salvaged by the contractor in workshops and on various construction sites, and the willow comes from ecological cultivation. 

The project in images