Patrick Bérubé is a visual artist based in Montreal. His multidisciplinary practice in installation, image and video has taken him to a variety of territories, often tinted with humor, which in recent years have become increasingly concerned with environmental issues. He deployed his universe at the Maison des arts de Laval (2016) and at the Biennale Nationale de Trois-Rivières (2020). A specialist in public art, he has created numerous permanent works in Montreal and throughout the province.

Approach and works on display

Cultiver le temps… Comme une révolution (2022)

Why look at an old calendar from the French Revolution of 1789? Because at the time, the project was handled by a poet with the sweet name of a flower, François Fabre d’Églantine, and not by a soldier or a cleric. Each month was renamed to reflect the seasons (pluviose, ventôse, prairial, etc.), and the three ten-day weeks were dedicated to local products and agricultural objects, rather than to Christian saints. Put into service in October 1793, this so-called Republican calendar remained in force until September 1805, when Napoleon chose to re-establish the Gregorian calendar inherited from Julius Caesar. Taking into account climate change and the fact that Indigenous nations have their own calendars based on thirteen 28-day lunar cycles, Patrick Bérubé offers a rich reflection on the gap between administrative arbitrations and the rhythms of nature. At a time when our seasons are constantly disrupted by erratic and intense meteorological phenomena, and the rhythm of plant growth is often disrupted, taking the time to think about the landmarks we share is more necessary than ever.

According to this calendar, the exhibition Faire lieu: prendre racine was inaugurated on a nonidi 19 fructidor 231, a day dedicated to the tagette (small-flowered marigold), a pretty plant that is important in vegetable gardens, as it saves crops from parasites.

Works by the artist