15 Nord [15 North]
« We inhabit systems of displacement that aren’t meant to be inhabited, but we inhabit them regardless. We’re like little birds that build nests under the concrete arches of highway underpasses. » — Dalie Giroux (our translation)
Despite its uninhabitable appearance, the highway is an infrastructure that teems with many kinds of human activity. While life there pulsates, the naked body in this context is vulnerable—even suspect. Is it even possible to inhabit suburban space without the protective layer of a steel compartment? Can we move through this space without the speed and convenience of an automobile? Focusing on the section of Autoroute 15 that spans the two rivers that surround Laval, this research-action casts an oblique look at a system that governs the daily life of its invisible laws. In one day, two women will walk along Autoroute 15 from either end of Île-Jésus, until they meet at its junction with Highway 440, before continuing on their respective journeys to the opposite shore. Along the way, they will collect some of the thoughts and landscapes (notes, texts, photos, and reflections) that make up this ecosystem. Materially sensitive, their collection will bear witness to this territory means through the expression of language that carries the very texture of its location [1].
Their performance’s poetic translation will be presented in the form of a printed book in which motives, at times generic, other times non-conformist, will seek to offer other ways of inhabiting the uninhabitable. To highlight the terrain’s potential while reactivating the strength of its forms. To bring the chain link fence closer to our concept of nature.
For this mentorship, Fanny invited Dominique to consider the highway within the broader view of initiating a dialogue on the medium of the book, of writing, of architecture, and the impact of movement on thought.
[1] Nathalie Blanc, Clara Breteau, Bertrand Guest, “Pas de côté dans l’écocritique francophone,” L’Esprit Créateur, 57, no. 1 (2017): 123-138