Le Soupir

Le Soupir is an ephemeral sound installation stranded on urban wastelands. It breathes gently to the rhythm of the wind. With its furtive appearence, its noble and evanescent presence, it poses as an act of piracy opposing an era of overflow, of frantic pace and overabundance of stimuli. Le Soupir suggests a slowing down, even a time-out, reflecting the wastelands it occupies. Silence, from which music is then born.

At the heart of the work is Canot 19, a French military rowboat offered to the Musée Maritime du Québec by the Musée de la Marine in Paris during the 1534-1984 Fêtes. After spending some time on the St. Lawrence during the summer of 1984, the canoe ran aground for a few years. In 2009, the Corporation Jeunes Marins de la Côte-du-Sud restored it and made it into training boat which would then sail for a few years.

Seeking to do useful work and multiply layers of meaning, L’orchestre d’hommes-orchestres is happy to put wind in the sails of Canot 19 so that a new restoration campaign can be carried out to let her to set sail again.

Designed by : L’ODHO with Bruno Bouchard, Gabrielle Bouthillier, Simon Elmaleh, Nadine Lizotte and Pascal Robitaille

Production management : Mario Demers

Technical support : Olivier Beaumont, Bradley Boss, Lucille Ganne, Germain Poitras, Vincent Poitras and Gabriel Thibault

Photography : Charles-Frédérick Ouellet

Many thanks to Caroline Gagné, André Kirouac, Marie-Claude Gamache and Germain Poitras for opening the way to Canot 19. Thanks to the Corporation Jeunes Marins de la Côte-du-Sud.

Project supported by Ville de Québec.