Events

Waiting for Bárðarbunga.
PAVED Arts, Saskatoon (SK), Canada.
September 15 – October 21, 2017.

Conference at Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Creation and New Media program at UQAT, Rouyn-Noranda (QC), Canada.
September 7, 2017.


Past events

Balance Unbalance 2017 – A Sense of Place.
Plymouth, UK.
August 21 – 23, 2017.

Distances : latences.
Maison de la culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal, Montréal (QC), Canada.
Curator : Nathalie Bachand. Exhibition for the 375th anniversary of Montréal : Un million d’horizons (1×19=1 000 000).
June 21 – August 20, 2017.

Artist in residence at Gros Morne National Park, partnership between The Rooms and Parks Canada. Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
June 26 – July 28, 2017.

POST-, La Minute vidéo Folie/Culture 2017.
La Chambre Blanche. Québec (QC), Canada.
May 10, 2017.

Artist in residence at La Chambre Blanche. Québec (QC), Canada.
March 13 – May 5, 2017.
Presentation March 30 at 5PM.

Artist in residence at Centre Sagamie. Alma (QC), Canada.
November 21-25, 2016.

Variations for strings and winds.
ARTVstudio. Montreal (QC), Canada.
June 21 – August 28, 2016.

Lost in Space.
Salle de diffusion de Parc-Extension, Montreal (QC), Canada.
The International Digital Arts Biennial (BIAN).
July 6 – August 28, 2016.

Waiting for Bárðarbunga.
Centre d’art Jacques-et-Michel-Auger, Victoriaville (QC), Canada.
Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville.
Curator : Érick D’Orion
May 16 – June 11, 2016.

Waiting for Bárðarbunga.
Presented at Manif d’art‘s window during Mois Multi 17.
600 côte d’Abraham, Québec (QC), Canada.
February 3-27, 2016.

Interdisciplinairy research residency in arts, sciences and technologies.
Collaboration between Sporobole and the 3IT of Université de Sherbrooke.
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
2014-2015.

Waiting for Bárðarbunga.
Presented from 4PM to midnight through Sporobole‘s window.
Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.
December 10-18, 2015.

RIDM | Montreal International Documentary Festival
Norman-McLaren Hall of Cinémathèque québécoise.
335, De Maisonneuve East, Montreal, Québec, Canada.
November 12-22, 2015.

Spaces Under Scrutiny | Quebec Digital Art in NYC
Knockdown Center.
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, New York. USA.
October 22-24, 2015.

Éléments
Solo show at Espace F – GAM.
Matane, Quebec, Canada.
July 10 – September 20, 2015.

IndieBo – Festival de Cine Independiente de Bogotá
Bogotá, Colombia.
July 16 – 26, 2015.

LOOP Barcelona 2015
NOISE – Ruta del Gótico | Estudio Nómada.
Carrer de la Palma de Sant Just 7, 08002, Barcelona, Spain.
May 29 – 30, 2015.

New Frontier Exhibition at the Sundance Film Festival.
573 Main Street, Park City, USA.
January 23rd to 31st 2015.

Lives and Times of the Plateau
Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
October 23rd 2013 to January 4th 2015.

Plugin Istanbul
Confluence, Perte de Signal members group exhibition.
The Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center. Istanbul, Turkey.
Novembre 13th to 16th 2014.

FILE – Festival Internacional de Linguagem Eletrônica.
FIESP Cultural Center. São Paulo, Brazil.
August 25th to October 5th 2014.

Samband íslenskra myndlistarmanna Residency.
Supported by the CCA and CALQ.
Reykjavík, Iceland.
August 2014.

Trace(s) – Festival des arts numériques.
Centre d’art rhodanien Saint-Maur, Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France.
May 15th to June 4th 2014.

Papilles et pixels.
Montreal Science Centre. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
May 15th 2014.

Dérive at Électrochoc 9.
Halle Grenette, Bourgoin-Jallieu, France.
April 3rd to 12th 2014.

Neural 47, Art in the age of neurological reproduction
Neural issue #47 features an interview with Novi_sad and Neuroplanets’s artwork on its cover.

BorderBody – Mixing Identities
MECA Mediterráneo Centro Artístico. Almeria, Spain.
February 7th and 21st 2014.

BorderBody – Mixing Identities
Palazzo Barone Ferrara. Bari, Italy.
February 13th to 21st 2014.

The Wrong – The New Digital Art Biennale
Homeostasis Lab
November 1st 2013 to January 31st 2014.

Impermanence
Group exhibition with Perte de Signal members Nelly-Ève Rajotte and Alexis Bellavance curated by Charlotte Panaccio-Letendre. Shown as part of the 27th edition of the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA). Thanks to the Canada Cousil for the Arts for its support.
Galerie Sans Nom.
Moncton, New-Brunswick, Canada.
November 15th to December 20th 2013.

Show OFF
Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris, France.
October 21st to 23rd 2013.

Avatar’s 40 000 ans Electronic Publication.
Available September 21st 2013 on the iTune Store and on the web. It features a text by Nathalie Bachand about Dérive.
http://avatarquebec.org/40000ans/en/f_quevillon.html

Liminal Spaces curating for Espace [IM] Média 2013.
I’ve had the pleasure to invite and work with Isabelle Hayeur, Nelly-Ève Rajotte, Aram Bartholl and Niklas Roy for the 4th edition of Espace [IM] Média 2013, a biennal event dedicated to media art and digital culture. Their interventions will be shown throughout Sherbrooke (QC, Canada) from July 31 to August 2013.
More info and documentation can be found here.

Artwork for the album Neuroplanets, a project by sound artist and musician Novi_sad in collaboration with BJ Nilsen, Daniel Menche, Francisco López and Mika Vainio.

Defrost at Festival internacional de la imagen.
Centro Cultural y de Convenciones Teatro los Fundadores. Manizales, Colombia.
April 15th to 19th 2013.

Dérive at Mois Multi 14
Avatar, Quebec city (Quebec, Canada).
February 15th to 28th 2013, from 12PM to 6PM.
Opening February 14th 2013 at 6PM.

Dérive at ISEA2012 Albuquerque : Machine Wilderness
Albuquerque Museum of Art and History (New Mexico, USA).
September 19th 2012 to January 6th 2013.

ISEA2012 review by THE Magazine (Santa Fe, NM).
ISEA2012 review by The Institute of Creative Technologies.
Interview with Larry Heard, Temporary Art Review.
KASA TV coverage of ISEA2012 at the Albuquerque Museum.

Artist in residence at Museu da Imagem e do Som (São Paulo, Brazil).
Collaboration between MIS, Avatar, la Bande Vidéo and La chambre blanche.
November and December 2012.

Artist in residence at Avatar (Quebec city, QC, Canada).
November 2012.

Impermanence
Group exhibition with Perte de Signal members Nelly-Ève Rajotte and Alexis Bellavance curated by Charlotte Panaccio-Letendre.
Espace Cercle Carré (Montreal, QC, Canada).
November 1st to 24th 2012.

Géographies variables
Group exhibition at Beenox Building (305 boul. Charest Est, 9th floor, Quebec city, QC, Canada).
October 19th to November 11th 2012.

Impermanence
Group exhibition with Perte de Signal members Nelly-Ève Rajotte and Alexis Bellavance curated by Charlotte Panaccio-Letendre.
Maison des arts Desjardins Drummondville (Drummondville, QC, Canada).
September 4th to October 21st 2012.

Dérivées locales
Perte de Signal’s Confluence exhibition at Joyce Yahouda Gallery (Montreal, Canada) from May 3rd to June 2nd 2012. In collaboration with the International Digital Arts Biennial.

Dérive at Art Rock festival (Saint-Brieuc, France)
May 22nd to 28th 2012.

Dérive at Bouillants #4 // Frontières (Vern-sur-Seiche, France)
April 21st to May 20th 2012.

Presentation at the International Marketplace for Digital Arts.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Fernand-Séguin Theatre (Montreal, Canada).
May 4th 2012 at 3 PM.

Dérive
Solo exhibition at Galerie Verticale (Laval, Canada).
March 24th to April 28th 2012.
Presentation April 28th at noon organized in collaboration with the International Digital Arts Biennial.

Sabord magazine. March 2012 – no 91, Surveillance
Article by Annie Hudon Laroche about Chronoscopies and Dérive (in French).

Art Souterrain 2012
Montreal Central Station (Montreal, Canada).
February 25th to March 11th 2012.

Artist in residence at AADN (Lyon, France).
October 31st to November 23rd 2011.

Presentation of Dérive and of my residency’s work in progress.
Salle des Rancy. 249 Vendôme, Lyon.
November 11th and 12th 2011.

VENDU-SOLD 2011
Les éditions esse contemporary art benefit auction.
Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (Montreal, Canada).
November 17th 2011 at 6 PM.

Interstices – Coefficients d’intimité / Amplified Intimacies
Publication Launch at OBORO (Montreal, Canada).
November 10 2011.

Dérive at Espace [im] média
Outdoor interactive screen near the Marché de la Gare in Sherbrooke (Quebec, Canada). From September 6 to 18 2011, 7h30 PM to midnight.

Artist in residence at Sporobole (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada), summer 2011.

L’atomisation du temps
Solo exhibition at Occurrence (5277 avenue du Parc, Montreal).
May 7th to June 18th 2011.
Presented in collaboration with Elektra.

La Terre en suspens solo exhibition.
OBORO, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
April 15 to May 20, 2023.
Opening Saturday April 15 at 5PM.
Artist talk Saturday May 6 at 2PM.

New Surroundings : Approaching the Untouchable group exhibition produced by Molior and curated by Nathalie Bachand.
Le Livart. Montreal, Québec, Canada.
March 24 to April 30, 2023.
Opening March 23 at 6PM.

Two presentations in the public space during Révolution V52.
Cryptocristallin at La Vitrine de L’unique – Musée Dehors in Caen, France.
Pyroclastic Trails on Digitale Zone‘s screen in Marseille, France.
January 11 to 17, 2023.

La Terre en suspens exhibition at Centre d’exposition d’Amos.

La Terre en suspens solo exhibition.
Centre d’exposition d’Amos.
Amos, Quebec, Canada. 
November 18, 2022, to January 15, 2023. 
Curator : Eric Mattson

Morceaux choisis – Collection de la Ville de Longueuil. 
Édifice Marcel-Robidas.
Longueuil, Quebec, Canada.
November 10 to December 18, 2022.

Vendu–Sold. Les Éditions Esse benefit auction.
Bid online at BYDealers and exhibition at Projet Casa.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  
November 10 to 20, 2022.

Eco(Systems) of Hope exhibition.
Artistic program of MTL connect 2022.
Anteism Books.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  
October 18 to 30, 2022.
Opening October 18, 2022, at 5 PM.
Curator : Erandy Vergara.

Fleeting Surfaces
Fleeting Surfaces (2022) at Place des Arts.

Fleeting Surfaces
Screen mosaic of Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme at Place des Arts.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
October 6 to November 10, 2022.

İnsan Eli DeğmişTouched by Humankind exhibition.
Kalyon Kültür.
Istanbul, Turkey.
September 17 to December 17, 2022.
Curators : Ceren and Irmak Arkman. 

La Terre en suspens exhibition at Centre d’art de Kamouraska.

La Terre en suspens.
Centre d’art de Kamouraska (QC), Canada.
June 18 to September 5, 2022, from 10AM to 6PM.
Opening event June 17, 2022.
Articles published in Esse, Urbania and Le Soleil.

Rooting : Infrastructure and Rooting : Le Rocher, Flora exhibition curated by Ceren and Irmak Arkman.
Kalyon Kültür, Istanbul, Turkey.
January 19 to May 28, 2022.

Unearth (2021), .dreams exhibition at the Theatre of Digital Art (Dubai). Photo : Generative Gallery.

The Crossing is part of Aseman Sabet’s Absoptions program at the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) co-presented with MUTEK.
Exhibition space at Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme of Place des Arts.
March 16 to 27, 2022. From noon to 8 pm.

Tromper l’oeil group exhibition.
Art Mûr. 5826 St-Hubert, Montreal (QC), Canada.
March 5 to April 23, 2022.
Opening: Saturday, March 5, 2022 from 3 to 5 pm.

Unearth, Generative Gallery .dreams exhibition.
Theatre of Digital Art, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
November 23, 2021, to March 13, 2022.

La Terre en suspens solo exhibition.
Bang Centre, Chicoutimi (QC), Canada.
October 14 to December 18, 2021.

Regard neuf sur notre vieille planète, article by Daniel Côté about the exhibition La Terre en suspens at Bang Centre. Le Progrès, November 27, 2021.

Pyroclastic Trails is part of a Kino Tonalà programing at Zumzeig.
Zumzeig, Barcelona, Spain.
November 18, 2021, at 23:55.
December 7, 2021, at 20:00.

Rooting : Le Rocher
Rooting : Le Rocher (2020), OMAF 2021 – Digital Aura exhibition (Seoul, South Korea). Photo : OMAF.

Rooting : Le Rocher at Open Media Art Festival 2021
Oil Tank Culture Park, Seoul, South Korea.
September 9 to 12, 2021.

Météores is part of the In Absentia Pavillon of The Wrong biennale.
Foggia, Italia.
https://www.inabsentia.it/gallery_eng/meteores
https://thewrong.tv/inabsentia

A new iteration of Pyroclastic Trails is presented at Géoparc de Percé during la Grande Rencontre des arts médiatiques en Gaspésie, Les Percéïdes. Percé (QC), Canada.
September 1 to 7, 2021.

Photosynthèse, Mouvant, Pyrocumulus et Rooting : Le Rocher are part of MUTEK’s physical exhibition.
Société des arts technologiques, Montréal (QC), Canada.
August 20 to September 5, 2021.

Météores 3763 (2018), Elusive Matter exhibition during Intervals 2021 (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia). Photo : Generative Gallery.

Météores (3686, 3647, 3763 et 3542) are part of the Elusive Matter exhibition organized by Generative Gallery for Intervals 2021.
Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
August 27 to 29, 2021.

Mouvant is part of Computer Vision Art Gallery de CPVR 2021.
Virtual due to COVID-19.

A selection of archival inkjet prints and lenticular prints is now available on FFOTO.
Interview with Craig D’Arville, FFOTO Co-founder and COO.

Météores 3542, 3647, 3686 and 3763, as well as Rooting : Infrastructure are available on Sedition.

Artist in residence at Est-Nord-Est, résidences d’artistes.
Saint-Jean-Port-Joli (QC), Canada.
July 5 to August 27, 2021.

Exhaust at The Intense Pleasures of the Small File.
Colgate University. Hamilton, NY.
April 2, 2021.

Artist talk at Culture Côte-Nord‘s Territoires numériques event.
April 1st, 2021.

Photo : Ricardo Savard, La Bande Vidéo.

Artist in residence at La Bande Vidéo.
Quebec City (QC), Canada.
March 9 to 28, 2021.

Apoptosis is part of La Bande Video’s Risky Topics program.

Participation to the Humaniteq Podcast IA, en route! episode about autonomous vehicles.

Artist in residence at La Bande Vidéo.
Quebec City (QC), Canada.
March 9 to 28, 2021.

Apoptosis is part of La Bande Video’s Risky Topics program.

Participation to the Humaniteq Podcast IA, en route! episode about autonomous vehicles.

Artist talk at Sympoietics : Hexagram’s Interdisciplinary Summit.
October 27th, 2020.

Quevillon Exhaust

Exhaust at Small File Media Festival.
August 10 to 20, 2020.

Artworks and Artificial Intelligence.
Online conference organized by CQAM.
April 7th, 2020.

Mirage Festival.
Les Subsistances, Lyon, France.
March 11 to 15, 2020.

Artificial intelligence in the media arts, industry and academic community.
Chaufferie d’Hexagram. Montréal (QC), Canada.
February 7, 2020.

Gravity solo exhibition at Centro de Cultura Digital (Mexico) for Connecting the Dots.

Residency in Mexico City for Connecting the Dots in November and December 2019 in collaboration with UNAM’s Instituto de Geografía, SOMA, Centro Cultural de España en México, Centro de Cultura Digital, Fundación Telefónica México, Délégation générale du Québec à Mexico and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Curator and director : Carmen Salas
Producer : Finella Halligan

From November 4 to 18 : Residency and activities at SOMA.
December 5 : Connecting the Dots inauguration and screening of De Defrost a Météores (2001-2018) at Centro Cultural de España en México.
December 6 to 8 : Gravity exhibition at Centro de Cultura Digital.
December 7 : Connecting the Dots conferences and round table at Centro de Cultura Digital.

ONLY

Conduite algorithmique solo exhibition at MA, musée d’art de Rouyn-Noranda.
Rouyn-Noranda (QC), Canada.
October 11 to December 8, 2019.
Curator : Eric Mattson.

Fichiers temporaires exhibition.
October 8 to December 12, 2019.
Centre Sagamie.
Alma, Québec.
Part of Colloque Numérique 02.

Territories ; Explorations project with curator Eric Mattson.
Quebec, Canada.
October 2019.

Artist in residence at Centre Bang.
Chicoutimi (QC), Canada.
September 10 to 28, 2019.

FILE 2019 – Festival Internacional de Linguagem Eletrônica
FIESP Cultural Center, São Paulo, Brazil.
June 25 to August 11, 2019.

ISEA 2019 – Lux Aeterna Exhibition
Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
June 22 to 28, 2019.

Artist in residence at Centre Bang.
Chicoutimi (QC), Canada.
May 22 to June 11, 2019.

Manœuvrer l'incontrôlable

Manoeuvering the Uncontrollable. Solo Exhibition at Expression.
Expression, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe (QC), Canada.
Exhibition : February 9 to April 21, 2019.
Opening : February 9 at 2PM.
Curator : Eric Mattson.

Review of Manœuvrer l’incontrôlable by Louise Boisclair in esse 96 – Conflict.

Artist talk at Regard Festival in collaboration with Centre Bang.
Chicoutimi (QC), Canada.
March 14, 2019, from 1 PM to 2:30 PM.

Artist in residence at Avatar
Avatar, Quebec (QC), Canada.
Residency : January 8-22, 2019.
Presentation and Algorithmic Drive performance : January 22, 2019.
Curator : Eric Mattson.

Manœuvres at NeurIPS 2018
Machine Learning for Creativity and Design Workshop Art Exhibition.
Palais des Congrès de Montréal, Montréal (QC), Canada.
December 8, 2018.

Algorithmic Drive. BétaLab at Sporobole
Sporobole, Sherbrooke (QC), Canada.
Exhibition : November 5 – 24, 2018.
Opening : November 16 at 5PM.

From the Interface residence to “Algorithmic Drive”: a two-way journey.
Interview and text by Nathalie Bachand on Sporobole’s A future Salvo blog.

Algorithmic Drive. Artist in residence at Daïmôn and exhibition at La Filature
Daïmôn, Gatineau (QC), Canada.
Residency : October 15 – 25, 2018.
Open studio : October 22 – 24.
Artist talk : October 24 at 7PM.
Manœuvres video broadcast in La Filature’s salon space : October 16 – 27.
Curator : Eric Mattson.

European Conference on Computer Vision 2018 Art Exhibition
Gasteig Cultural Center, Munich. Germany.
September 8 – 14, 2018.

Météores à Miguasha

Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie – CHAOS
Miguasha National Park (QC), Canada.
Exhibition : July 15 – September 30, 2018.
Residency : August 2018.
Presentation : August 17, 2018 at 11AM at Miguasha National Park, Nouvellle (QC), Canada.
Round table : August 17, 2018 at 2PM at Foyer Hydro-Québec of Quai des Arts, Carleton-sur-Mer (QC), Canada.

CQAM-Turbulent Research Residency
Turbulent, Montreal (QC), Canada.
June 2018.

The Manœuvres video series can be watched on La Fabrique culturelle.
https://www.lafabriqueculturelle.tv/series/306/manoeuvres-de-francois-quevillon

Demi-journée de conférences et de réflexions sur l’art, la science et l’interdisciplinarité
Centre Bang, Chicoutimi (QC), Canada.
May 7th 2018 at 1PM.

Dérive
Communitech, Kitchener (ON), Canada.
Part of the Interaction exhibition co-curated by Jane Tingley and Alain Thibault.
January 25 – May 13, 2018.

VENDU-SOLD 2017
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. November 23rd 2017 at 6PM.

Waiting for Bárðarbunga
PAVED Arts, Saskatoon (SK), Canada. September 15 – October 21, 2017.

Photogrammetry Workshop
PAVED Arts, Saskatoon (SK), Canada. September 14 at 6PM.

Conference at Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Creation and New Media program at UQAT, Rouyn-Noranda (QC), Canada. September 7, 2017.

Balance Unbalance 2017 – A Sense of Place.
Plymouth, United Kingdom. August 21 – 23, 2017.

Dérive on The Earth Issue

Distances : latences.
Maison de la culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal, Montréal (QC), Canada.
Curator : Nathalie Bachand. Exhibition for the 375th anniversary of Montréal : Un million d’horizons (1×19=1 000 000). June 21 – August 20, 2017.

Art in the Park. Artist in residence at Gros Morne National Park.
Partnership between The Rooms and Parks Canada. Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. June 26 – July 28, 2017.

Variations for Strings and Winds featured in ICEVIEW Volume 1. Available May 26, 2017.
Q & A with François Quévillon.

POST-, La Minute vidéo Folie/Culture 2017.
La Chambre Blanche. Québec (QC), Canada. May 10, 2017.

Artist in residence at La Chambre Blanche. Québec (QC), Canada. March 13 – May 5, 2017.
Presentation March 30 at 5PM.

Artist in residence at Centre Sagamie. Alma (QC), Canada.
November 21-25, 2016.

Variations for strings and winds.
ARTVstudio. Montreal (QC), Canada. June 21 – August 28, 2016.

Lost in Space.
Salle de diffusion de Parc-Extension, Montreal (QC), Canada.
The International Digital Arts Biennial (BIAN). July 6 – August 28, 2016.

Waiting for Bárðarbunga.
Centre d’art Jacques-et-Michel-Auger, Victoriaville (QC), Canada.
Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville. Curator : Érick D’Orion. May 16 – June 11, 2016.

Waiting for Bárðarbunga.
Presented at Manif d’art‘s window during Mois Multi 17.
600 côte d’Abraham, Québec (QC), Canada. February 3-27, 2016.

Interdisciplinairy research residency in arts, sciences and technologies.
Collaboration between Sporobole and the 3IT of Université de Sherbrooke. Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. 2014-2015.

Waiting for Bárðarbunga.
Presented from 4PM to midnight through Sporobole‘s window.
Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. December 10-18, 2015.

RIDM | Montreal International Documentary Festival
Norman-McLaren Hall of Cinémathèque québécoise.
335, De Maisonneuve East, Montreal, Québec, Canada. November 12-22, 2015.

Spaces Under Scrutiny | Quebec Digital Art in NYC
Knockdown Center.
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, New York. USA. October 22-24, 2015.

Éléments
Solo show at Espace F – GAM.
Matane, Quebec, Canada. July 10 – September 20, 2015.

IndieBo – Festival de Cine Independiente de Bogotá
Bogotá, Colombia. July 16 – 26, 2015.

LOOP Barcelona 2015
NOISE – Ruta del Gótico | Estudio Nómada.
Carrer de la Palma de Sant Just 7, 08002, Barcelona, Spain. May 29 – 30, 2015.

New Frontier Exhibition at the Sundance Film Festival.
573 Main Street, Park City, USA. January 23rd to 31st 2015.

Lives and Times of the Plateau
Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada. October 23rd 2013 to January 4th 2015.

Plugin Istanbul
Confluence, Perte de Signal members group exhibition.
The Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center. Istanbul, Turkey. November 13-16, 2014.

FILE – Festival Internacional de Linguagem Eletrônica.
FIESP Cultural Center. São Paulo, Brazil. August 25th to October 5th 2014.

Samband íslenskra myndlistarmanna Residency.
Supported by the CCA and CALQ. Reykjavík, Iceland. August 2014.

Trace(s) – Festival des arts numériques.
Centre d’art rhodanien Saint-Maur, Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France. May 15th to June 4th 2014.

Papilles et pixels.
Montreal Science Centre. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. May 15th 2014.

Dérive at Électrochoc 9.
Halle Grenette, Bourgoin-Jallieu, France. April 3rd to 12th 2014.

Neural 47, Art in the age of neurological reproduction
Neural issue #47 features an interview with Novi_sad and Neuroplanets’s artwork on its cover.

BorderBody – Mixing Identities
MECA Mediterráneo Centro Artístico. Almeria, Spain. February 7th and 21st 2014.

BorderBody – Mixing Identities
Palazzo Barone Ferrara. Bari, Italy. February 13th to 21st 2014.

The Wrong – The New Digital Art Biennale
Homeostasis Lab. November 1st 2013 to January 31st 2014.

Impermanence
Group exhibition with Perte de Signal members Nelly-Ève Rajotte and Alexis Bellavance curated by Charlotte Panaccio-Letendre. Shown as part of the 27th edition of the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA). Thanks to the Canada Cousil for the Arts for its support.
Galerie Sans Nom.
Moncton, New-Brunswick, Canada. November 15th to December 20th 2013.

Show OFF
Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris, France. October 21-23, 2013.

Avatar’s 40 000 ans Electronic Publication.
Available September 21st 2013 on the iTune Store and on the web. It features a text by Nathalie Bachand about Dérive.
http://avatarquebec.org/40000ans/en/f_quevillon.html

Liminal Spaces curating for Espace [IM] Média 2013.
I’ve had the pleasure to invite and work with Isabelle Hayeur, Nelly-Ève Rajotte, Aram Bartholl and Niklas Roy for the 4th edition of Espace [IM] Média 2013, a biennal event dedicated to media art and digital culture. Their interventions will be shown throughout Sherbrooke (QC, Canada) from July 31 to August 2013.
More info and documentation can be found here.

Artwork for the album Neuroplanets, a project by sound artist and musician Novi_sad in collaboration with BJ Nilsen, Daniel Menche, Francisco López and Mika Vainio.

Defrost at Festival internacional de la imagen.
Centro Cultural y de Convenciones Teatro los Fundadores. Manizales, Colombia.
April 15th to 19th 2013.

Dérive at Mois Multi 14
Avatar, Quebec city (Quebec, Canada). February 15th to 28th 2013, from 12PM to 6PM.
Opening February 14th 2013 at 6PM.

Dérive at ISEA2012 Albuquerque : Machine Wilderness
Albuquerque Museum of Art and History (New Mexico, USA). September 19th 2012 to January 6th 2013.

ISEA2012 review by THE Magazine (Santa Fe, NM).
ISEA2012 review by The Institute of Creative Technologies.
Interview with Larry Heard, Temporary Art Review.
KASA TV coverage of ISEA2012 at the Albuquerque Museum.

Artist in residence at Museu da Imagem e do Som (São Paulo, Brazil).
Collaboration between MIS, Avatar, la Bande Vidéo and La chambre blanche. November and December 2012.

Artist in residence at Avatar (Quebec city, QC, Canada).. November 2012.

Impermanence
Group exhibition with Perte de Signal members Nelly-Ève Rajotte and Alexis Bellavance curated by Charlotte Panaccio-Letendre.
Espace Cercle Carré (Montreal, QC, Canada). November 1-24, 2012.

Géographies variables
Group exhibition at Beenox Building (305 boul. Charest Est, 9th floor, Quebec city, QC, Canada). October 19th to November 11th 2012.

Impermanence
Group exhibition with Perte de Signal members Nelly-Ève Rajotte and Alexis Bellavance curated by Charlotte Panaccio-Letendre.
Maison des arts Desjardins Drummondville (Drummondville, QC, Canada). September 4th to October 21st 2012.

Dérivées locales
Perte de Signal’s Confluence exhibition at Joyce Yahouda Gallery (Montreal, Canada) from May 3rd to June 2nd 2012. In collaboration with the International Digital Arts Biennial.

Dérive at Art Rock festival (Saint-Brieuc, France). May 22-28, 2012.

Dérive at Bouillants #4 // Frontières (Vern-sur-Seiche, France). April 21st to May 20th 2012.

Presentation at the International Marketplace for Digital Arts.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Fernand-Séguin Theatre (Montreal, Canada). May 4th 2012 at 3 PM.

Dérive
Solo exhibition at Galerie Verticale (Laval, Canada). March 24th to April 28th 2012.
Presentation April 28th at noon organized in collaboration with the International Digital Arts Biennial.

Sabord magazine. March 2012 – no 91, Surveillance
Article by Annie Hudon Laroche about Chronoscopies and Dérive (in French).

Art Souterrain 2012
Montreal Central Station (Montreal, Canada). February 25th to March 11th 2012.

Artist in residence at AADN (Lyon, France). October 31st to November 23rd 2011.

Presentation of Dérive and of my residency’s work in progress.
Salle des Rancy. 249 Vendôme, Lyon. November 11th and 12th 2011.

VENDU-SOLD 2011
Les éditions esse contemporary art benefit auction.
Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (Montreal, Canada). November 17th 2011 at 6 PM.

Interstices – Coefficients d’intimité / Amplified Intimacies
Publication Launch at OBORO (Montreal, Canada). November 10 2011.

Dérive at Espace [im] média
Outdoor interactive screen near the Marché de la Gare in Sherbrooke (Quebec, Canada). From September 6 to 18 2011, 7h30 PM to midnight.

Artist in residence at Sporobole (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada), summer 2011.

L’atomisation du temps
Solo exhibition at Occurrence (5277 avenue du Parc, Montreal).
May 7th to June 18th 2011.
Presented in collaboration with Elektra.

La Terre en suspens – OBORO 2023

La Terre en suspens solo exhibition.
OBORO. Salle Daniel-Dion et Su Schnee et petite galerie.

4001 Berri, local 301, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
April 15 to May 20, 2023.

Opening on Saturday, April 15, 2023, at 5 PM.
Artist Talk on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 2 PM.

François Quévillon, Esker / lithium, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
Érosions 3, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, 2023. Photo : Paul Litherland.
François Quévillon, Érosions 3, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : Paul Litherland.
François Quévillon, Pyroclastic Trails and Pyrocumulus, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Cryptocristallin, Rooting : Le Rocher and Tablelands in Suspension, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon

The Matter of Time
Exhibition essay by Ariane Koek


It’s a millisecond versus a billion years. Technological time versus geological time. Currently our world appears to be locked in a deadly war between two different versions of linear time. Minerals and rare earth elements, which have been harboured in the earth for billions of years, are now being extracted with increasing rapidity to power our technology. Deep time transformed into quick time. We are consuming these rocks and minerals far faster than they can re-form. We are literally dematerializing the planet — and as we do so, we are running out of time.

It is these critical paradoxes that are at the centre of the work of François Quévillon. Ever since his residency at Gros Morne National Park in 2017, he has focused on rocks and minerals. His work over twenty years has always been an investigation into the nature of materiality — whether liquid, vapour, air or solid matter. But for the past six, he has found a new focus with geology, which combines the environmental, societal and ethical issues that are close to his heart. His work does not preach about these issues. Instead, it subtly raises questions in the audience’s mind by luring them in with the beauty and skill of his image-making and his creative use of technology.

Key to this is his work possessing an unsettling and uncanny quality, too: his images walk the line between the heimlich and the unheimlich — the familiar and the strange1 — and so his work has a beguiling liminality. Take for example the lenticular print Pyrocumulus. As visitors move around, it changes shapes, forms and textures. Molten matter appears to momentarily transform into a volcanic ash cloud, blooming like a flower.2 Or take Cryptocristallin, which could be a blown-up image of a microorganism under the microscope. It’s in fact the interior of a geode rendered with depth of field.3 The accompanying hissing soundtrack, drawn from volcanic activity, evokes the energy needed to form the rock, giving it a life that breaks down the distinction between dead and living matter.

His installation Esker / lithium has an even more complex liminality, partly due to the depth of his research over several years. A haunting 3D scan on a wall appears at first glance to be an unusual natural forest clearing. The clue that there is more to this than meets the eye is the mobile phone connected to the image by an electric cable, like an umbilical cord. The clearing is in fact on a prospection site for the extraction of lithium, which the phone depends on for power. The phone, which is faulty and frequently runs out of power, in turn rests on the image of a mining exploration hole, supported by a pallet of plastic bottles containing spring water collected nearby — a subtle comment on extractivism and consumerism.

The subliminal questions raised by these juxtapositions trigger what François calls “reflective discomfort.” He is deliberately trying to provoke this feeling in his work, and it is a discomfort that he feels, too, because he is using new technology to research, create and exhibit his work, which is also contributing to the extraction and destruction of the planet’s geology. He is just as much implicated in what is happening in our world as we all are. But equally, he is fascinated by the creative possibilities technology offers both him and the viewer, opening our perceptions to new experiences and understandings of our world.

Érosions 3 is another piece with many layers to it. Put on the VR headset, and the rocks which François scanned on the coasts of the St. Lawrence are transformed into undulating waves of particles of light and colour. The boundary between the shoreline and water are eroded, and the work evokes a new geological materiality beyond human perception — the “vital materialism” which the philosopher Jane Benett talks about, where all matter is a form of life, whether it is unconscious or not.4 Technology gives us a portal into seeing rocks as mobile and flexible in this digital realm. Yet in real life, rocks move, and their movement is at the centre of their ‘being-ness’ as any geologist will confirm: they form, reform, and transform over time, and are masters of metamorphosis. They just do this in time stretched over thousands and millions of years, which are far beyond human beings’ bodily experiences of time. In fact, rocks are immortal, except for attrition by weather and the elements, as well as their destruction by humans. Maybe part of our fascination — as well as disregard — for rocks is an unconscious jealousy at their immortality. We are literally destroying them in order to live on borrowed (deep) time.

Érosions 3 can also be read as a critique of the world as solipsistic. When a person enters the room and puts on the VR headset, unbeknownst to them they both trigger sound and images that other visitors in the room encounter. The headset wearer can neither hear nor see what is happening outside their own experience. They are at the centre of their own universe — true members of the Anthropocene.

But there is hope, too, in François’s work. Rooting: Le Rocher shows roots gripping tenaciously to rocks with such vigor that it is almost palpable. Life will always find a way. In his book The Order of Time, physicist Carlo Rovelli sets a riddle to test the nature of reality. He posits that a stone and a kiss are in fact the same. They are both an event held together by time:

The hardest stone in the light of what we have learned from chemistry, from physics, from mineralogy, from geology, from psychology, is in reality a complex vibration of quantum fields, a momentary interaction of forces, a process that for a brief moment manages to keep its shape, to hold itself in equilibrium before disintegrating again into dust.5

In the end, François’ work — which investigates the geology of media and the media of geology with their different materialities — hints at this: a state of existence which is even beyond that of the vital materialists for whom everything exists as equals. Instead, as Carlo Rovelli shows, what really matters at the end of the day is time — and the forces that interact and give shape to both a stone and a kiss. Time matters. Time is a form of mattering — of making meaning and shaping the world/s in which all beings exist. We are time.

– Ariane Koek

  1. See Sigmund Freud’s essay The Uncanny (1919).
  2. The title Pyrocumulus refers to fire clouds formed when warm air rises. The piece also evokes
    Chinese myths which link clouds with rocks — seeing them as the same things, an expression of
    matter, despite one being aerosol and the other solid. See Paul Prudence, The Lithic Imaginary
    (Sternberg Press, 2023).
  3. The title of the work teasingly and deliberately also evokes crypto art and NFTs — a form that François has not worked with so far.
  4. Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (Duke University Press, 2010).
  5. Carlo Rovelli, The Order of Time (Penguin Riverhead Books, 2018), p. 62.
François Quévillon, Cryptocristallin, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Pyrocumulus, Orbiting Bauxite and Cryptocristallin.La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Pyrocumulus, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Pyroclastic Trails, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Rooting : Le Rocher and Tablelands in Suspension, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Rooting : Le Rocher, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Ce qui persiste (encore), La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Photosynthèse, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Esker / lithium (detail), La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Photosynthèse et Esker / lithium (detail), La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon
François Quévillon, Esker / lithium (detail), La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon

La Terre en suspens is inspired by geology in order to probe the space-time and materiality of the digital. Mainly composed of digitized rock formations and fragments of territories altered by algorithms, the works echo the implications and effects of certain technologies on perception, while offering new perspectives on the evolution of the Earth, its composition and the processes that impact it, such as erosion, volcanism, as well as the extraction and transformation of minerals in a context marked by globalization and climate change.   

This exhibition is the result of several residencies in Quebec and elsewhere in the world. During his stays, François Quévillon conducted fieldwork and met with communities to examine local environmental particularities and concerns. The extraction of tezontle from extinct volcanoes south of Mexico City; the importation and residue of bauxite from the aluminum industry in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region; lithium mining, water and the forest in Abitibi-Témiscaminque; and the St. Lawrence coastline are among the subjects addressed. As a result, the diversity of the devices presented questions our relationship to screens, reminds us of the mineral nature of their components and the resources required by the digital and energy transition. 

François Quévillon would like to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts and the organizations that participated in the research and production processes of the works, notably during residencies: Parks Canada, The Rooms, CQAM/Turbulent, Bang, Connecting the Dots, Instituto de Geografía (UNAM), Est-Nord-Est and Molior. He also thanks Etienne Richan, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit, Nancy Lombart, Ariane Koek, Carmen Salas, Eric Mattson and the entire OBORO team.

François Quévillon, Érosions 3, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon.
François Quévillon, Érosions 3, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon.
François Quévillon, Orbiting Bauxite and Rooting : Le Rocher, La Terre en suspens exhibition at OBORO, Montreal, 2023. Photo credit : François Quévillon