“The current crisis of community is a crisis of resonance. Digital communication is composed of echo chambers in which, above all, we hear ourselves speaking.”
Byung-Chul Han, La disparition des rituels. Pour une topologie du temps présent, 2025, p. 21
The minimalist space that Patrick Bérubé creates unfolds through a palette of whites and pinks, a subtle set of in situ interventions and objects. From work to work, the traces and the materials hint at precise work by hands and by time. These pieces took shape over months, even years, through experiments, discussions, and encounters with artisans and collaborators. Growing mycelium, making silk and natural dyes, weaving, sewing, embossing, melting and moulding of materials: the subtlety and slowness inherent to these processes inspire respect and invite us to meditate about time.
(Ce)pendant [(Now)ever], Bérubé’s first solo museum exhibition, acts as an archaeology of the present, accumulating strata of history and layers of meaning. Ruins, buried or exposed, conjure the heritages of the past, the intermixing of peoples and cultures. The structures interred beneath the fields are revealed from high above in supernatural patterns that evoke both fascinating configurations of the plant world and electronic circuits. Quintessential artefacts of the contemporary era, they become motifs, then symbols, of the digital world.
The environment that Bérubé creates is inspired by the traditional configuration of Japanese tea rooms and their ritual ceremonies. In essence, the ritual establishes a deep respect, an almost spiritual oneness with nature, things, and people. Others are encountered in silence, with a series of meticulous gestures that produce “a community in resonance capable of finding harmony and a common rhythm” (Han). Here, Bérubé summons us to contemplative repose: to experience duration, to look with sincerity, to resonate with things and people. Let the soul grow quiet for a moment to leave room for shared gestures. Set aside self-performance and collective narcissism to imagine, perhaps someday, living in “intense coexistence.” Together, envisioning a true social community and even a re-enchanted world.
After Autre/Fois, presented in 2024 at the Centre d’art de Kamouraska, in which Bérubé explored traditions and cultural heritages, (Ce)pendant is the second part of a trilogy; the last exhibition in the sequence, Ainsi de suite, will take place at Plein sud art actuel in fall 2026.