Self Control Room pushes the boundaries of narrative as space-time is at once fragmented and collapsed onto itself. In this installation comprising architectural elements, furniture, and a video surveillance system, a roaming figure rushes by, appearing and disappearing before our eyes. The viewer, who doesn’t escape the cameras, also oscillates between presence and absence.

The exhibition also deepens the idea of the « project ». This concept, inescapable in our society, permeates all spheres of human activity, whether they relate to work, domestic life, leisure or relationships. The project is defined by its finitude, it is something that one programs, carries out, and concludes. Its omnipresence implies a definition of the human being as one who has a grip on the different aspects of his life. He can plan and implement it as if it were any other occasional initiative. The notions of control and domination seem irreducible to this perception. This existential concept of the “project” is explored in the exhibition.

In an era of self-mediatization, the auto-construction of the subject happens through a mise-en-scène in which its activities are monitored, so that the very process of auto-construction is also under surveillance. The paradox reaches another level with the project’s staging of the process of control, as in the mise-en-abyme of the theatre’s play within a play.

The artist would like to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for its financial support and the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman family foundation for their support of the project.

Sébastien Cliche is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Montréal. He questions forms of narrative and the place the viewer can take in their construction. For over fifteen years, he has been producing installations, photographs and text-based works, videos and sound. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, notably at Centre d’art contemporain de Meymac (France, 2008), l’Œil de poisson (Québec, 2010), galerie de l'UQAM (Montréal, 2012), as well as in established festivals such as MUTEK (Montréal, 2005 and 2010). As a curator, he produced, among others, the exhibition « L’Oreille dans l’œil/The Hearing Eye » (Montréal, Ottawa and Québec, 2007-2008). In 2012, he received the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman scholarship and exhibited his work at Optica (Montréal) and Momenta Art (New York), in January 2013 as part of the Montréal-Brooklyn project.