Adventures can be found anywhere, même dans la répétition

Beloved Book, Transformed Book

Seated around a large table, a group of artists apply themselves to the task of rewriting the journals and notebooks of the U.S author and activist Susan Sontag. They reappropriate her words and unpack their possibilities, altering the substance of the text by projecting themselves into it. Each fragment is read, shared, exhibited. Through this ceaseless communal labour, the performers produce a new, collective work that’s closer to us.

Immersed in the silence of writing, the drawings of words, and the echoes of voices that mingle together, the audience combines its own experience of the world, of art, and of desire with that of the young Sontag, who is transformed and multiplied under the authorship of the assembled artists. This performance-installation presented continuously over eight days is a vibrant and mischievous declaration of love to literature. The interdisciplinary group PME-ART celebrates the creative power of reading by seizing upon its potential for perpetual reactivation.

Produced by PME-ART

Creation, Performance and Installation Burcu Emeç + Marie Claire Forté + Nadège Grebmeier Forget + Adam Kinner + Catherine Lalonde + Ashlea Watkin + Jacob Wren

Artistic contribution Claudia Fancello

Text Susan Sontag, Reborn: Journals & Notebooks 1947-1963 © The Estate of Susan Sontag (2008) used by permission of The Wylie Agency (Royaume-Uni) + Renaître : journaux et carnets (1947-1963) translated from English (United States) by Anne Wicke © Christian Bourgois Éditeur (2010)

Artistic Coordinator Sylvie Lachance

Co-produced by Festival TransAmériques + Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery

Co-presented by Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery

Written by Sara Fauteux

Translated by David Dalgleish

Premiered at Festival TransAmériques, on June 1 juin 2022