A few months ago, we chose ‘suspended mobility’ as the theme for this issue of .dpi. As we all know, it is typical for publications that are released in September to be written during the summer prior. Likewise, we all know that our summer plans become the embodiment of this concept, ‘suspended mobility.’ What could be better then suspending yourself between the sky and the earth, swinging in a hammock, or than traveling to the ocean to lounge on the beach? These are truly the moments that we wish we could suspend in time.

This new edition of .dpi is a continuation of our reflections on the practices of mobility. While pursuing our goal to observe the tensions that exist between the fluidity of mobility and the stationary nature of the body, the focus will be on a somewhat opposing aspect of mobility – suspended mobility.

Two artists, one a Californian, the other a New Zealander, have conducted research on new forms of narrative:

Adriene Jenik combines new technology with the human desire to propose new forms of literature, cinema, and performance. Her current project is SPECFLIC.

Helen Varley Jamieson does cyberperformance in the company of colleagues, located all around the world, who are each at home at the time of their performances. “The truth is that we never really go very far, even when we travel. […] The only thing that really moves is time and the greatest illusion is that for the duration of the performance we can suspend even time.”

So, while data circulates through our information networks and modern communication tools, history is written while in groups or alone, in reaction or incomprehension, before a group or during our day-to-day lives…

Émilie Houssa returned to Paris after six months in Quebec. Paris, “a city of lights where nothing shines any longer but everything becomes an image. Images that haunt each square meter of the day-to-day Parisian life”. Émilie has dissected this for us.

As for our chronicle authors, they propose a view that is both mobile and critical of web artworks, an electronic arts festival and current events.

Marianne Cloutier has targeted certain web artworks online that each cite an artwork of a great master. She comments on them in her chronicle.

Sophie Le-Phat Ho attended DEAF07, the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival 2007, which takes place every two years at the V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media (Netherlands). The chronicle she presents is both a critique and a reflection of the theme of the 2007 festival, ‘Interact or Die!’.

A new chronicle on current events makes reference to a pilot project launched by the STM at the end of September. It is comprised of an audio-visual installation, which uses even the walls of a subway car that is currently running in the Montreal metro system. ‘Point de fuite,’ as it’s called, is the work of visual artist Rose-Marie E. Goulet, and was created in collaboration with sound artist Chantal Dumas.

This ends our summary of the 9th edition of .dpi (October-November 2007).

Have a good read!

P.S. We would be pleased to receive your feedback at the following address: programmation@studioxx.org