Tools That Measure the Intensity of Passionate Interests Publication Launch and Screening

Call the CCA Box Office on 0141 352 4900

Tools That Measure the Intensity of Passionate Interests is a publication produced by Marilou Lemmens in collaboration with Richard Ibghy, while in residence here at CCA. The book consists of original emblems, each combining a picture, a motto and a textual snapshot, which work together to forge a form of philosophical inquiry, between cultural critique and aesthetic production.

The launch will be presented alongside a screening of video recordings of recently completed performances that combine a continuous flow of improvised actions and precarious sculptural arrangements alongside original libretti recited by performers.

Tools That Measure the Intensity of Passionate Interests is co-published by the Centre for Contemporary Arts and Gallery 44, Toronto. The images in the publication were originally realised as a series of large format gelatine silver prints commissioned for the 10th Sharjah Biennial, UAE, 2011. A second launch for the publication will take place in Toronto at Gallery 44 in September 2012. The publication is available directly from Aye-Aye Books.

Marilou Lemmens is an artist based in Montreal (Quebec), Canada. Her video, installation and performance pieces heighten the allusive and deconstructive features of language to interrogate knowledge-formations, institutional contexts, and social and political entanglements. Lemmens’ work is characterised by a minimalist approach to the form and construction of the art object and a use of materials as a way to make ideas visible. Recent projects explore how desire and belief influence economic discourse and practices, sustain current economies, but also carry the potential for inciting new forms of doing economy. She has been working collaboratively with Richard Ibghy since 2002.

Lemmens’ work has been exhibited at the 10th Sharjah Biennial, UAE; Labor K1, Berlin; Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver; VU, Quebec City; Owens Art Gallery, Sackville; and Trafó, House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest, among others. Recent screenings and performances have taken place at Milton Keynes Gallery, UK; ausland, Berlin; Galleria 3H+K, Pori, Finland; and the European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany. Her artistic projects and writings have been published in Le Merle, C-magazine, New Social Inquiry, and Pyramid Power. This year, she will present solo exhibitions at the Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond; 221A, Vancouver; Monte Vista, Los Angeles; and G Gallery, Toronto.

Marilou Lemmens is part of the CCA exchange programme with the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres in Québec (CALQ).

This project is supported by the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec and the Québec Government Office in London.