The Art of the Fall by Veronique Cote, Jean-Michel Girouard, Jean-Philippe Joubert, Simon Lepage, Danielle Le Saux-Farmer, Marianne Marceau, Olivier Normand and Pascale Renaud-Hebert

The Art of the Fall by Veronique Cote, Jean-Michel Girouard, Jean-Philippe Joubert, Simon Lepage, Danielle Le Saux-Farmer, Marianne Marceau, Olivier Normand and Pascale Renaud-Hebert

1. CALQ
   2008. Montreal, office of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec,
   Quebec’s arts funding body.
   CALQ PROGRAM OFFICER. First impressions?
   ASSESSOR 1. When I started looking through the application, I thought it was
   ironic, that it was playing on kitsch, that there was more to it. Nope. Just
   plain old photos. Nothing to say about photography, about art, nothing at
   all. It’s just a pet project.
   ASSESSOR 3. True.
   ASSESSOR 1. They’re mall photos. They look like they were done at Sears
   Portrait Studio. They’re photos of his grandmother, right?
   ASSESSOR 2. Yes, and she died not long after they were taken.
   ASSESSOR 1. Well there you go. See, if he’d at least used a Polaroid, you’d
   say, OK, they don’t make Polaroids any more, his grandma’s dead. That’s,
   like, bare minimum.
   ASSESSOR 3. Agreed.
   ASSESSOR 2. Sure, it’s not quite polished, but I find the project, the old
   photos, quite moving… It even made me think of my own gran—
   ASSESSOR 1. It feels like a high school art project. It’s a no for me.
   ASSESSOR 3. Same here.
   ASSESSOR 2. What if we sent him to the Quebec studio in London for six
   months? Maybe that would help develop his approach?
   ASSESSOR 1. He’s forty-two.
   They gasp at his age, like it’s too late, as though he’s a lost cause.
   CALQ PROGRAM OFFICER. Any other comments?
   Silence around the table.
   CALQ PROGRAM OFFICER. OK, next: Alice Leblanc.
   ASSESSOR 3. Excuse me but… what time’s lunch? I have to make a call…
   CALQ PROGRAM OFFICER. This is the last one before lunch.
   ASSESSOR 3. OK.
   Alice steps up onto the meeting table.
   ALICE. My name is Alice Leblanc. I’m a visual artist who specializes in
   sculptural installations integrating audio and video technology.
   ASSESSOR 2. What does this one do again?
   ALICE. My work focuses mainly on copper. My family’s from Murdochville,
   a mining town on the Gaspé Peninsula, so copper holds special meaning for
   me.
   ASSESSOR 3. Has she won any awards?

The Art of the Fall by Veronique Cote, Jean-Michel Girouard, Jean-Philippe Joubert, Simon Lepage, Danielle Le Saux-Farmer, Marianne Marceau, Olivier Normand and Pascale Renaud-Hebert