Nelson Henricks - Prix Robert-Forget 2024

Crush is the story of a man who wants to turn himself into an animal, as told by the man himself, and one or two observers. He employs a variety of techniques to transform himself into a beast. He cuts off parts of his body. He exercises. He swims. He wants to return to the water to speed up evolution a little. Has he gone mad, or is he just tired of being human? As the narrator descends into his private obsession, we begin to perceive the distorted outlines of reason which guide his descent. The trajectory he defines allows us to reflect upon the correlations between the body and identity, our culture's obsession with the body beautiful, and what it means to be human.

Our apartment was one hundred years old, and it was haunted.  Friends suggested that we paint a black spot on the ceiling to get rid of the ghost. She wasn't a bad ghost, she was just an old hooker. She kept turning the front hall light on and off, and opening doors for her johns, who came at all hours of the night. She loved sex and she loved parties, so we were forced to have sex and parties all the time to appease her. Other ghosts were also there: immigrants who spoke neither English nor French. They had come from far away, and longed to return to their homelands. Sometimes they sang sad songs. Shimmer started as their story. My grandmother's story, my parents' story and mine got mixed up with their's along the way.

Nelson Henricks

So you get home from the store with a large cardboard box and you realize your ability to assemble this piece of furniture is significant. It's a barometer of your future relationship. Maybe you won't make it. Maybe you'll start fighting. Burst out crying. Abandon the whole project and send this pile of arbourite, plastic and pressed wood out onto the sidewalk. You open the box together and try to decipher the Swedish instructions, which don't seem to represent the thing you are trying to build. But gradually, it comes together, and soon the two of you are standing in front of a beautiful armoir - or bookshelf - or whatever it was you felt you were lacking. There's a mysterious aggregate of left-over pieces that you are uncertain what to do with, but they don't worry you to much. You are filled with an emotion that is no so much pride as it is relief. I think every couple reaches that sad day when you go to IKEA and come home empty handed. You search through all of those weird household tableaus searching for something, but find nothing you want. You don't even bring home a box of candles. You lack nothing. You are fulfilled.

Nelson Henricks

A whimsical science-fiction comedy soundtracked to a mix of pop music and experimental electronica, Planetarium explores our current fascinations with ufology, extraterrestrials and the future. A post-fin de siècle ode to the death of utopia, this video contrasts the vastness of outer space with the capacity to imagine; the cosmos that surrounds us an universe that exists inside our heads. File under experimental. Play at maximum volume.

The videotape Emission found its origin in three performances which the author wrote between 1988 and 1991. In their original form, the performances dealt with sex, romance and communications technologies. The videotape explores the regression of the individual to his most primitive instincts, particularly when faced with difficulties of language and communication with others. Torn between the desire for a more direct contact and a more sophisticated relationship, the experience is decoded differently by each individual. Ultimately, and with much perseverance, is the hope that one can "keep talking" and therefore remain human.

"When I want to chew gum, it's not just any gum..."

Images of beauty rituals - both masculine and feminine - focus on the removal of body hair. Scenes of adolescent embarrassment are played out in adult life. Gender confusion lurks behind the curtain. Impoverished aesthetics. Popular music.

A collaborative project initiated by Nikki Forrest, Annie Martin and Nelson Henricks, who have produced a number of short video works on the theme of 'love'. Each one approaches the theme from a different angle, be it love's generosity, lust, romantic addiction, erotic compulsion, unstable identities, obsession, or the search for love. The resulting catalogue of works creates an index of the different aspects of love that's as dizzying and diverse as our experience of love itself.