art in nature

Échelles réduites
[Reduced Scales]
1992 - 93

In the fall of 1991, local newspapers reported that Hydro-Québec, a public corporation, would be erecting a new 735kW power transmission line. Connecting Lévis (south of Quebec City) to the Sherbrooke region and stopping a few kilometres short of the US border, this project was supposed to use the corridor of an old low-voltage line, which had been built in a straight line, through hills and valleys, with no consideration given to its visual or environmental impact, back in the days when such issues had no relevance yet. Living in Chesterville, one of the small towns on that corridor, and appalled by the prospect like numerous other residents, Dominique Laquerre became involved in the citizen’s groups created to oppose the project. She soon realized that, fueled by passion but cruelly lacking funds, these committees had limited power beyond their usual range of actions (open letters, petitions, press conferences) and that these actions were quickly recuperated by the merciless machine of the opposite camp. So, Laquerre decided to contribute in an artistic manner to the debate that was stirring up her little rural community.

“Reduced Scales,” a project co-realized with visual artist Daniel Jean, was put together then and took place between the summer of 1992 and the spring of 1993. This art project – the title of which highlights the mismatch between citizens’ actions and the gigantic resources of the public corporation – consisted of several short-lived deep-forest interventions, in an area bound to be destroyed, right between the markers Hydro-Québec had planted to show the lumberjacks where to deforest. Imitating the giant’s ways, “Reduced Scales” was structured into separate phases that were widely covered by the local press. Phase One received the mayor’s support, attracted several journalists and even got national coverage. Afterwards, the project welcomed an audience unfamiliar with contemporary art. Over 120 people came for the 45-minute hike in the woods required to visit “Reduced Scales.”

          “They were making nests that were realistic at first, and then grew more and more human, from electrical wire, mineral wool… something like metaphors of human habitats. Some nests were big, especially one 16 feet in diameter, with a linoleum floor consisting of maple leaves collected in autumn, over which a ‘60s chrome dining set was set, representing the slightly romantic time when progress seemed boundless – a myth we are still suffering from. On the table, a small radio was broadcasting a soundtrack consisting of local old folks talking about their young days and the wonderful advent of electricity in their lives.”
               Johanne Chagnon, Esse magazine, #34, Montreal, Spring1998

While encouraging a reflection on our concepts of comfort and progress, “Reduced Scales” also added a different voice to a debate that was confined to political and economical issues. Laquerre and Jean helped widen the debate and carry it to another level, by taking into account hardly quantifiable values such as the beauty and (obviously evolutionary) durability of a landscape, and by making heard usually disregarded voices and poetry.

Although modifications were made to the path of the Lévis-DesCantons line (including a 50-metre deviation to spare the area where the artworks were set), citizens and artists failed to prevent the erection of the pylons. Nevertheless, these interventions, along with several more around the same time, undoubtedly sowed seeds of citizen creativity and refusal of passiveness.

Translated by François Couture