Carcasse XR

This installation is the result of two years of research into the cultural influence of the automobile and its place in natural spaces. Inspired by visits to racetracks and festivals, the project explores the car as a persistent symbol of progress, with its promises of efficiency and freedom, set against the degradation and waste it leaves behind in the landscape.

The composition combines a car chassis and body fragments with a system of pumps circulating colored liquids to evoke a wrecked vehicle kept on life support. This mechanical element is juxtaposed with the common reed, an invasive exotic species. Found in southern Quebec along the Trans-Canada Highway, its spread has been facilitated by wet ditches and the winds within asphalt corridors. This parallel invites us to view the car as a living, invasive system, much like this plant, which both benefits from and inadvertently contributes to the transformation of our landscapes.