For this 40^th edition, FIFA is honored to welcome the Carte Blanche of Aseman Sabet co-presented with MUTEK.
These works will be presented free of charge as part of the Pop-up program from March 16 to 27 from 12:00 to 20:00 at the Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme at Place des Arts.

Absorptions
“In an era marked by the exponential presence of new technologies, what is the impact of the fleeting consumption of images on our ability to immerse ourselves in what we are watching? Entirely composed of video works, this program is articulated around the notion of attention span. It brings together artistic propositions that invite us to drift along with the image while, at the same time, measuring our relationship to the experience of duration. Rather than an imperative, the ability to focus here becomes an object of reflection that takes shape through various themes, which echo one another through a sustained emphasis on their temporality. Each work, in its own way, thus calls to observe how we observe, and what our reflexes are in the face of the time we grant to what is given to be seen.

Engaging a gaze that is at once poised and incisive, these eight videos draw on both natural and technological, living and non-living motifs. They dialogue with the spheres of memory, of history, but also of science and documentary. At the heart of these intertwined trails, sound takes on a particular meaning that reinforces the multiple visual rhythms that are convened.“

Aseman Sabet
Guest programmer

La Traversée— François Quévillon. Canada. 2018. 3 min. No dialogue.
Alert. A letter from Rachel Carson— Frédéric Lavoie. Canada. 2020. 4 min. No dialogue.
Fragile Monument— Virginie Laganière, Jean-Maxime Dufresne. Canada. 2022. 10 min. No dialogue.
Stitching My Landscape— Maureen Gruben. Canada. 2017. 6 min. No dialogue.
Couple— Rachel Echenberg. Canada. 2022. 3 min. No dialogue.
The Reflecting Pool— Bill Viola. United States. 1977 – 1979. 6 min. No dialogue.
RETE MIRABILE (counter-current)— Monica Ursina Jäger. Switzerland. 2020. 6 min. No dialogue.
Présage— Hicham Berrada. France. 2019. 9 min. No dialogue.

Absorptions is a co-production of the International Festival of Films on Art, as part of the FIFA POP-UPS! initiative, and MUTEK, as part of the Digital Detox project. The organizations thank SODEC, the Canada Council for the Arts and Place des Arts for their support of this program.

Digital Detox is a public education and exhibition project about digital arts and their impact on our lives. The initiative launched in 2021 by MUTEK is anchored in a reflection process around the distinct fatigue linked to the consumption of screen content. This reflection was naturally extended into a questioning of the “ecological fatigue” generated by this sudden overproduction of digital nature during the pandemic, and on the notion of disconnection.