August 18, 2014 - Based on the relational and improvisational approach that Sylvie used for a few walking projects, she requested that I decide and guide where we would walk together. I chose to bring us to the mountain because it is one of the most energetically generous places I know, but also because the cemetery offers great insight into impermanence - a topic that I learned Sylvie has given much thought to.
BIOGRAPHY
Sylvie Cotton is an interdisciplinary artist living in Montreal, Quebec. Her research, which began in 1997, is linked to the practices of performance, action art, drawing and writing, although she also regularly uses forms of installation for exhibition projects. Her works open up to the creation of situations leading to the establishment of a relationship with the other or an infiltration into the world of the other.
Mainly, the work is inscribed in situ and in spiritu in private or public places, and the results are presented in galleries and festivals or offered outside of walls in other types of public spaces (street, elevator, park or restaurant, for example). The residence as activity is also used as a performative creation medium.
Sylvie Cotton is also author and curator. She has organized events, directed publications and been a member of numerous working groups and visual arts committees. She has presented her performance or installation projects in Quebec, the United States, Italy, Germany, Serbia, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Spain and Japan.
REFLECTION TO WALK WITH
How can walking help your spirit come to peace with our common journey towards death?
Do you ever feel compelled or magnetized by a detail that you encounter while walking? Do you sometimes take the time to stop and contemplate the energy of these details?
How does walking with another help us develop intimacy?