Exhibition
Opening
Repère sidéral
artch and the Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent present Repère sidéral, a solo exhibition by artist Florence Viau.
Don’t miss the opening reception on February 26 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Repère sidéral explores the forms of imagery that have shaped the way we think about, measure, and represent the world, and more specifically the celestial realm. Florence Viau focuses on the construction of our knowledge systems through images, examining the physical media that enable them to emerge. The dot appears as a fundamental mark, whether indented, raised, incandescent, or suspended. It informs us of the path of our observations directed towards the sky and beyond. It is in the effort of Doing, in contact with matter, that the imprint becomes a reference point.
The works, created between 2022 and today, repeatedly invoke the notion of the body, both as a tool of perception and as a vehicle of knowledge. The relationship to the body becomes central to the reflection on how humans have sought—and still seek—to assimilate, interpret, and symbolize knowledge related to the firmament. The celestial, between figuration and abstraction, becomes a space where scientific observation, sensory experience, and symbolic construction intersect.
Curator: Oriane A.-Van Coppenolle.
Plein solo is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Government of Quebec.
26.02.2026 –
31.05.2026
Free
Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent
300, Saint-Pierre st.
Rivière-du-Loup
How to get there
Rooted in both sculptural and pictorial practice, I explore how images circulate, transform, and (de)materialize over time and across interfaces. Drawing on the fields of ecology, semiotics, and visual perception, I study recurrences and evolutions within our systems of representation, where matter emancipates itself and information is revealed. My formal and conceptual research is inspired as much by the making of images—the tools, techniques, and gestures that produce them—as by the media that host and alter them. In this context, I question the tensions between progress and decline, using science (fiction) as a speculative method. This gives rise to works whose materiality is shrouded in a certain mystery and whose archaeological, technological, and cosmic references overlap.
Florence viau
Florence Viau (1998) is a multidisciplinary visual artist who lives and works in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal, where she is currently pursuing a master’s degree in sculpture at Concordia University (2026) with the support of the Dave Mcgary Memorial Award in Fine Arts scholarship. In 2021, she earned a bachelor’s degree in visual and media arts from the Université du Québec à Montréal, accompanied by a McAbbie Foundation scholarship for excellence in sculpture.