Gauthier Kriaâ

Gauthier with the Risograph

Country: Canada

Residency period: February 13– March 13

Public presentation: , space 517

Residency project: The project is marked by a dual purpose: firstly, to explore and revivethe history of printmaking in order to inspire a work that triggers or invites interaction. The production residency at the Atelier will provide a significant first step in this ambitious project. During my residency, I hope to create a work that is activated by the public. I imagine a fragmentary work (to which elements can be added or removed, for example), whose composition could be modified by the public. I am interested in the history of the printed arts, in what a workshop is—its history, the notions of work, mutualization, collectivity, and even social utopia, which are historically linked to that of the workshop. I will observe the places and their use. I would like to use screen printing and risography, based on digital files.

Bio and statement :  Gauthier Kriaâ holds a Master’s degree in Visual Arts. His visual practice—situated between sculpture/environments, images, and actions—examines how creation reconfigures and disrupts social and symbolic relationships, and how these relationships can be rethought. In an era defined by speed and an attention economy, Gauthier seeks to densify the aesthetic experience through simple forms that appear familiar at first glance, yet resist easy appropriation. In this vein, he is pursuing a practice-based PhD at UQAM, through which he investigates and seeks to activate the polysemy of the French word porter—as both an action verb and a visual sign, as well as a metaphor.

During his residency at Atelier Circulaire, Gauthier wishes to explore the memory of the site and of the printed arts. He is particularly interested in the history of workshops, both as sites of production and as modes of organization—spaces of cooperation, shared resources, and utopia. He intends to invest this memory in the creation of a fragmentary image and a dispositif that invites public participation and action.