Marc Paradis, an Ogre’s Desire

La cage is divided into two parts: a homosexual writer visualises his fantasies and a group forms around what seemed to be the story of an encounter between two men. Thus, with recurring visions and a camera that insists on quotidien objects, the first part is displaced. The audience becomes immersed in a magical atmosphere where the story that exists is that of men among themselves.

A choregraphy by Ginette Laurin, presented in June 1984, in the context of a symposium about art and technology entitled Molécul'art. The dance company is composed of France Bruyère, Ginette Laurin, Isabelle Marcil, Ginette Prévost and Gilles Simard.

Marc Paradis brings a specific element to this dance performance which is properly treated with the video medium language. His intention was to transpose a visual rhythm to the rhythm of the choreography.

Luc Bourdon, Marc Paradis and Simon B. Robert are curators for a selection of Canadian video to be presented within the context of the 13th Montréal International Festival of New Cinema and Video. This tape relates their experiences and research which occurs during their journey across Canada. This document is less a documentation of the trip than a logical suite to the questions raised in a previous work, Scheme vidéo. Focusing on the displacement of the three curators, the tape reflects their perceptions through the random capture of images. With Paul Wong, Grant Poier, Nida Home Doherty, Jerry Kissel, John Greyson and Collin Campbell.

"Since his recent works were to be exhibited at Montréal's Galerie Noctuelle in May, 1985, John Mingolla asked me to draw a portrait of his work, the context within which they were produced, and himself in this context", explains Marc Paradis.

The result is a vision that is jerky like the music, very lively and sensitive in relation to the artist. This videotape was broadcasted continuously during the entire exhibition in May, 1985, at Galerie Noctuelle and was also featured at Galerie Horace in Sherbrooke, in February of 1986.

A video recording of Yves Lalonde's performances, from the event entitled A/Venture. Take Me for a Night in New York is a series of excerpts paraded before a motionless camera/spectator. Icare et Isadora II and Cendrillon : un Medley, for their part, are shot with a mobile camera. The performer/dancer gives us his ironic take on various cultural signs, easily identifiable thanks to their characteristic disguises. The choreography transpires mainly through back-and-forth movements, rhythmically set to music, spoken texts or songs.

Lettre à un amant is the final chapter of Paradis’ video trilogy. It deals with a couple's break-up. It is both a letter and a reflection, and it concerns giving of one's self, sharing and exchanging. It is also a response to the other person's flight, the absence, the void. The images attempt to replace the fear and silence. A need sublimated in the exacerbation of pleasure conveyed by images and sounds, Lettre à un amant is a masterful conclusion to the series. At the same time, it poses several questions about the dichotomous love-image paradox present in love. This work also refers to an earlier work by Marc Paradis, La Cage, because of its erotic homosexual content and its many electronic applications. Richard Anger's original score was composed to emphasize the dramatic aspect while several processes proper to the video medium serve to peg the images in an aesthetic approach.

Harems is a love story between a screen-writer and a gogo-boy, the latter being typically representative of the image of seduction in the 80's. The screenwriter leaves on a journey and asks the gogo-boy to accompany him. A scandal breaks out and the gogo-boy's antics lead to both men's meeting with the narrator. She introduces the spectator to the psychological state of the screen-writer - who is in the process of inventing a mythic character based on his lover - and befriends and helps the gogo-boy in his quest for happiness. The narrator relates the story taking place between the two men and questions the relationship between fantasy and the reality of love.

A kaleidoscopic stroll through the streets of Marrakesh.