The project was developed in July 2010 at the Red Gate International Artist in Residency Program in Beijing. It is a multiple channel video installation structured to traverse between the realms of fiction and documentary, as well as the imagined and real lives of the people in the video. I explore this idea by working with a chorus of elderly Chinese whose lives have been marked by particular historical eras. This elderly group is linked / mirrored to a younger generation (possibly their grandchildren), as both groups perform, on separate projections, a song based on a well-known Mao’s poem, entitled Snow that was published in 1936. The performance of this well-known by two groups of different generations serves as a hinge to explore many cultural, historical, and individual turning points.

This video installation is an elaboration of ideas and techniques explored in my previous projects. Through presenting the video image as an installation in space, the work orchestrates a complicated dynamic between image and sound. From the outset of this new cycle of creation, I am maintaining a conceptual bias that underlines the ideological aspect of the work, as well as and its various narrative possibilities. The installation employs the convention of family portrait that gathers a group of people with similarities and differences. Not only will the work shows Mao’s song being performed but it also includes the preparation for the performance. This inclusion allows me to examine closely what the protagonists are experiencing, by taking into account attitudes and actions that are usually eliminated when the “real” scene starts. The conventions of family portrait and the chorus are ways to materialize reminiscence and synthesize collective memory.

Stylistically, the video is distinguished by its symmetrical, front-facing shots. Just as symmetrically structured traditional Chinese architecture incorporates a conception of space that allows one to experience the outdoor while remaining inside, the videos are made in a traditional temple that infuses the work with an aura of the past. The final presentation of the project will comprise four video projections: the chorus of elderly people, the youth chorus and close-ups of individuals. This setup reinforces the idea of dialogue between generations. The spatial distribution of the videos, the aural distribution of the voices and the interaction of image and sound (using a Max/msp/jitter programming platform) designed to envelope the spectator in the image and sound of the chorus.

This project is realized with the funding from de Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec