Victor Pilon (born in 1958), 2019. Photo April Hickox.
Victor Pilon (born in 1958), 2019. Photo April Hickox.
Sisyphus
50 tonnes of sand moved for 30 days, 7 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Outside the walls of the MMFA, multidisciplinary creator Victor Pilon is giving the first solo performance of his career at the Olympic Stadium. With Sisyphus, he takes on the persona of this “hero of the absurd” and his perpetual struggle in all its beauty and suffering. For four weeks, he will move 50 tonnes of sand from one mound to another using a simple shovel to materialize the legendary efforts of this tragic figure.
Concept
According to Greek mythology, Sisyphus, son of Aeolus and founder of Corinth, defied Zeus and cheated death (Thanatos), offenses for which he was banished to the underworld and forced to endlessly roll a giant boulder to the crest of a precipitous mountain, only to have it immediately roll down again, never reaching his goal.
The idea for this ambitious performance by Victor Pilon crystallized after a personal tragedy. Albert Camus’s text The Myth of Sisyphus offered not only a way of working through this difficult time but also a philosophical underpinning for the performance.
The death of a loved one led me to this project. We all have to mourn the fact that life is absurd to arrive at a form of freedom, even happiness. This project is an effort to understand the eternal restart, to grasp the absurdity of existence, a desire for clarity, a quest for the why that dwells in all of us.
- Victor Pilon
Victor Pilon (born in 1958) Sisyphus, 2019. Photo April Hickox
Victor Pilon (born in 1958) Sisyphus, 2019. Photo April Hickox
In the media
La beauté de la chose : c’est le geste. Je vous le recommande fortement!
Marie-Christine Blais
In his deep dive into life, art, and grief with Sisyphus, Victor Pilon is evoking some of the true essences of existence.
Art-critique
C’est fascinant […] C’est d’une poésie, d’une philosophie, c’est émouvant […] Allez-y !
ICI Radio-Canada Première, Samedi et rien d’autres
Je trouve ça fascinant.
98,5 FM, Le Québec maintenant
A modern study in the absurdity and repetition of life, based on an old legend.
CTV, CTV News Montreal
Credits
Produced by Lemieux Pilon 4D Art, with the support of the Olympic Park and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. With the generous musical contribution of Dear Criminals.
Victor Pilon (born in 1958) Sisyphus, 2019. Photo April Hickox
Victor Pilon (born in 1958) Sisyphus, 2019. Photo April Hickox
