EXHIBITIONS
Jo-Anne Balcaen

El Dorado  (in collaboration with Stephan Kurr of Berlin) is a ceiling
intervention at SAW Gallery in Ottawa. It was conceived in part as a response to
the white cube of Modernism and its emphasis on an aesthetically neutered
presentation space consisting solely of four walls. It also references the
Baroque ceiling, with its painted frescoes and gilding, which metaphorically
blew the lid off its lavish interiors to reveal visions of the heavenly skies.
The Baroque ceiling both defined and neglected the room it covered.
Structurally, it provided a lid for the box; aesthetically, it aggressively
competed for your attention by pulling your eye upward, away from the decorative
wallpaper, stately paintings and brocade fabrics.
SAW Gallery is located in the basement of the former Law Courts building. Due to
this location, its ceiling is very low. While visiting the gallery, we were
struck by the ceiling’s strong presence and the decision to leave its heating,
plumbing and ventilation systems exposed, rather than install a less distracting
dropped-panel ceiling. Despite efforts to subdue this industrial maze by
painting it flat black, (thereby hoping it will recede from our peripheral
vision), it still hovers like an ominous cloud. In response to this interesting
architectural feature, we painted SAW Gallery’s ceiling completely gold,
transforming industrial material into a decadent Baroque display.
At SAW Gallery from March 12 – April 12, 2003.
The ceiling will remain on view until January, 2004, as part of the gallery’s
30th anniversary.

Machination is a sound installation that deconstructs the modern power ballad to
reveal its stilted message. It points to the excessive use of vocal
ornamentation by contemporary pop singers, and how this reinforces the notion of
melodrama in romantic relationships. Over 60 short excerpts from contemporary
pop songs were chosen. Each of these segments is excessively ornamental,
highlighting the emotional climax of the song. These segments are edited in
rapid sequence and abruptly cut each other off, much like scanning across a
radio dial. The soundtrack is played at high volume, and activated by a motion
sensor as the viewer enters a darkened room, lured by the half dozen kinetic
flower pots that dot the floor. These flowers light up, occasionally blink on
and off, and “bloom” as they bob up and down in a perpetual display of beauty.
exhibited at:
Maison de la Culture Côte des Neiges, Montreal - September 2002
AceArtInc., Winnipeg – April-May, 2003
Medium: kinetic flowers, sound
Dimensions: variable.

Blow plays with the ephemeral nature of balloons and looks at how they are used
as an easy and disposable stand-in for happiness and squeaky-clean celebration.
In this case, these phallic balloons form a large  heart shape that cheerfully
yet aggressively juts out toward the viewer. Over the course of their display,
the balloons slowly deflate, acting as a symbolic barometer for waning romantic
emotions.
exhibited at eyelevel gallery, Hallifax, 2001
Medium: balloons
Dimensions: approximately 9’ high x 6’wide (variable).

Based on a Baroque calligraphy design, Vicious Circle is a piece where process, material and scale evoke sensuality. I was interested in creating a monumental piece with nothing more than a spool of ribbon and a box of straight pins, and I enjoyed the idea of this work being completely collapsible; able to be returned to its former humble state.
installed at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, 1999, and the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University Montreal, Faculty of Fine Arts 25th anniversary exhibition, 2001.
Medium: Ribbon, straight pins Dimensions: approximately 9' diameter.

Set in an abandoned Montreal hospital, Get Well Soon takes the primary aesthetic
feature of this recovery room (mint coloured walls) and heightens and
exaggerates its sensorial experience through light and smell. Viewers entered
the closed room and were either soothed or disturbingly overwhelmed by the
pungent peppermint odour.
exhibited as part of Hôpital, a site-specific exhibition at the former
Bellechasse Hospital in the city’s nort-east end. Organized by galerie articule,
in Montreal, May-June 2001.
Medium: peppermint scented oil, scent diffuser
Installed in a former wedding gown manufacturer and boutique in Quebec city.

Grotesque impelled the viewer to confront their feelings of attraction and repulsion with its lush texture and colour, and its garish display of sentimental fluff and bourgeois aspirations.
Part of the first Manifestation internationale d’art de Québec, organized by
l’Oeil de Poisson, Québec City, September-October, 2000
Medium: tissue paper flowers, plastic moldings, ribbons
Dimensions: approximately 11’ high x 9’ wide

Happiness  was set in a room of an abandoned boarding house in Montreal, slated for conversion into luxury condominiums. I was initially struck by the lavender- coloured rear wall: a subtle yet desperate sign of happiness, despite the bleak, foul-smelling surroundings. The combined scent of the air fresheners, rather than mask the pre-existing odour with a pleasing floral smell, produced an overbearing, noxious, sickly-sweet smell.
part of 48 Hours/48 Rooms , a site-specific exhibition on the corner of rue
St.Denis and ave. Duluth in Montreal, 1999
Medium: ribbons, Wizard air fresheners
Dimensions: approximately 5’ high  x 21’ long.