About Caroline Monnet
Caroline Monnet is a multidisciplinary artist of Anichinabe and French descent based in Montreal. Her practice encompasses visual arts, film, sculpture, and installation art.
She is known for her use of industrial materials and construction-related materials, which she transforms to explore the connections between identity, memory, architecture, territory, and the built environment.
The collaborations between Caroline Monnet and Lab'Eau-Air-Sol arose from a specific challenge: to use living microorganisms as artistic components while controlling their growth, appearance, and the conditions necessary for a safe presentation.
Works Created in Collaboration
The works *Havoc* and *Depredation* have made it possible to bring together contemporary art, microbiology, environmental , and building materials.
Havoc: Controlling Living Things to Create a Work of Art
In 2021, Lab'Eau-Air-Sol collaborated closely on the production of *Havoc*, which was featured in the *Ninga Mìnèh* exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts .
The artwork featured traditional Anichinabe motifs , with contrasts created using mold. The creation required a great deal of ingenuity to maintain and control the mold’s growth, to achieve precise visual definition, and to ensure that the artwork was safe for display.
The team had to take into account the behavior of the microorganisms , the conditions conducive to their development, and the visual evolution of the artwork over time.
"Depredation": A New Collaboration on Display in New York
In 2023, Caroline Monnet once again called on Lab'Eau-Air-Sol to create Depredation.
This mural, made of gypsum panels, incorporated mold- s associated with building materials affected by moisture problems.
The use of gypsum and mold established a direct link between building materials, moisture problems in buildings, and the gradual transformation of built spaces.
The work was featured in the exhibition WORKSITE at Arsenal Contemporary Art New York, at 21 Cortlandt Alley, from September 8 to October 21, 2023.
A Creative Partnership Based on Expertise
These collaborations demonstrate that Lab'Eau-Air-Sol's scientific and expertise can find applications far beyond traditional building analyses.
By contributing to these works, our team participated in a dialogue between microbiology, materials, the built environment, contemporary art, and our relationship to the spaces we inhabit.
These projects have also made it possible to put science at the service of a unique artistic approach, in which living becomes at once a material, a process of transformation, and a visual element.