Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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Pierre Bourgault is a 2022 winner of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. Directed by Sarah Seené.
A presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance.
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm's-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 (Canada Council for the Arts Act) "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."
For more information, visit: en.ggarts.ca
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Transcript:
I am known as the “sea sculptor.”
And in everything I’ve done, there have always been lived and felt experiences of the sea.
My exhibitions have all been named after things that relate to the sea, whether it be the wind, boats, all manner of adventures.
I come from a family that has always worked with wood. They are known as woodworkers. And I continued the tradition.
I don’t try to reason anything out. It always has to be subconscious, like an idea that just comes to float over the oil of my brain at night.
I’ve made it a habit that it be literal, in a way. What comes to me is always a sentence. A well-articulated sentence that flows, that is almost musical. And at that moment, so that I don’t lose its quality, I go downstairs and write it down right away because I’ve often lost things that were very interesting.
Everything is political, in the end. As soon as you make a movement—be it secret, discreet or violent—it’s always political. It’s politics, but it’s also poetry. Poetry isn’t always just things written down with smart words that split open, it’s actions as well.
Beauty really comes… “true beauty,” if you can say that, is the quality of the meaning. That’s it. But it isn’t “aesthetic beauty,” it’s beauty in meaning, you know? Beauty that is versatile, that lends itself to any state of mind you may have. Now, that’s beautiful!
All of my sculptures include a space for sleeping, for seeking refuge. I’ve always built little houses, habitable sculptures. They’re like a reserve, like a bird in a place.
What I like to do is to conduct exercises consisting in living in a given space. Even if the sculpture is huge—living in it. Living in the horizon. You build lots of things on the water. Your imagination lands on the water. It reflects the earth, and that reflection is reflected in the sky.
And then, the sky itself, having borrowed the colour and shape of the sea, reflects what is on the earth. It’s two mirrors speaking to each other. That’s what it is.
[Laughs].
Connect with us on social media:
Canada Council for the Arts
Instagram - instagram.com/canada.council
Facebook - facebook.com/canadacouncil
Twitter - twitter.com/CanadaCouncil
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canada-council-for-the-arts
Website - canadacouncil.ca
Art Bank
Instagram - instagram.com/artbank_banquedart
Facebook - facebook.com/CCartbank
YouTube - youtube.com/watch?v=x9fGIx7hZYk
Website - artbank.ca
CCUNESCO - Canadian Commission for UNESCO
Instagram - instagram.com/ccunesco
Twitter - twitter.com/CCUNESCO
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canadian-commission-for-unesco
Website - en.ccunesco.ca
Please like this video and subscribe to support the arts in Canada.
Pierre Bourgault is a 2022 winner of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. Directed by Sarah Seené.
A presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance.
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm's-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 (Canada Council for the Arts Act) "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."
For more information, visit: en.ggarts.ca
****
Transcript:
I am known as the “sea sculptor.”
And in everything I’ve done, there have always been lived and felt experiences of the sea.
My exhibitions have all been named after things that relate to the sea, whether it be the wind, boats, all manner of adventures.
I come from a family that has always worked with wood. They are known as woodworkers. And I continued the tradition.
I don’t try to reason anything out. It always has to be subconscious, like an idea that just comes to float over the oil of my brain at night.
I’ve made it a habit that it be literal, in a way. What comes to me is always a sentence. A well-articulated sentence that flows, that is almost musical. And at that moment, so that I don’t lose its quality, I go downstairs and write it down right away because I’ve often lost things that were very interesting.
Everything is political, in the end. As soon as you make a movement—be it secret, discreet or violent—it’s always political. It’s politics, but it’s also poetry. Poetry isn’t always just things written down with smart words that split open, it’s actions as well.
Beauty really comes… “true beauty,” if you can say that, is the quality of the meaning. That’s it. But it isn’t “aesthetic beauty,” it’s beauty in meaning, you know? Beauty that is versatile, that lends itself to any state of mind you may have. Now, that’s beautiful!
All of my sculptures include a space for sleeping, for seeking refuge. I’ve always built little houses, habitable sculptures. They’re like a reserve, like a bird in a place.
What I like to do is to conduct exercises consisting in living in a given space. Even if the sculpture is huge—living in it. Living in the horizon. You build lots of things on the water. Your imagination lands on the water. It reflects the earth, and that reflection is reflected in the sky.
And then, the sky itself, having borrowed the colour and shape of the sea, reflects what is on the earth. It’s two mirrors speaking to each other. That’s what it is.
[Laughs].
Connect with us on social media:
Canada Council for the Arts
Instagram - instagram.com/canada.council
Facebook - facebook.com/canadacouncil
Twitter - twitter.com/CanadaCouncil
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canada-council-for-the-arts
Website - canadacouncil.ca
Art Bank
Instagram - instagram.com/artbank_banquedart
Facebook - facebook.com/CCartbank
YouTube - youtube.com/watch?v=x9fGIx7hZYk
Website - artbank.ca
CCUNESCO - Canadian Commission for UNESCO
Instagram - instagram.com/ccunesco
Twitter - twitter.com/CCUNESCO
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canadian-commission-for-unesco
Website - en.ccunesco.ca
