Who: Isabelle Hayeur
Where: Metropolitan United Church (56 Queen East)
Why: Isabelle Hayeur, a Quebec-based artist specializing in work that comments on the built environment, last year showed a video that made a kiln tunnel at the Brick Works appear to open onto a beach. This time around, she works her perception-bending architectural magic on a downtown church. Ascension is a “mise en abyme,” a phrase referring to an infinite reproduction of images, as when a person stands between two mirrors or an artwork contains a smaller copy of itself. An ambient noise and electronic soundtrack by Nicolas Bernier accompanies a large-screen projection of Hayeur’s videos. The transformation of the church’s nave into a winding path promises an experience of transcendence.
