Sabrina Ratté: "Lieux-Dits"

Curated by Sharsten Plenge and Paul Young, Young Projects is pleased to present "Lieux-Dits" the first solo exhibition by Montreal-based artist Sabrina Ratté.

Extending the flatness of the image into multidimensional habitats, Ratté’s latest works for YoungProjects explore the nature of the electronic image as physical space, residing in both tangible and virtual expanses. On view will be a survey of the artist’s works in addition to new site-specific installations exploring video as environment— including works such as "Common Areas," a sprawling, room-sized, four-channel installation; selections from the series "Immeuble-Villas" presented as aluminum prints with video augmentation, and several single-channel videos.

Drawn by atmosphere and spatial memory, Ratté utilizes video to revel in the transparencies of epistemological space. Dematerializing photographs she captures from “reality,” Ratté works between realms of interference— interweaving analog techniques with digital software to create spaces rich with texture and luminosity. “Sculpting electronic signals into architectures,” her practice permeates from a deep-rooted interest in engaging with the image itself and extending the parameters inherent to its frame.

The show’s title refers to the expression for small geographic regions or villages with no registered or official name. These “lieux-dits” are baptized based on historical anecdotes, myth or legend, or denoted as a landmark with a name characteristic of their place. Evoking an uninhabited site existing in the imaginary or in secrecy, the conception of “lieux-dits” relates to Ratté’s conversation with architecture, growing a body of work continually informed by the [in]visible landscape and the [un]built nature of place. Viewing architecture as “another manifestation of science fiction,” Ratté’s installations invoke the moving image as a portal for accessing a surreal and elusive territory.

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Sabrina Ratté’s video practice investigates the creation of virtual environments generated by analog technologies. Approaching electricity as raw material, she sculpts, transforms and alters the digital image into luminous and vibrating architectures. Her work exists on the edge of science-fiction, between abstraction and figuration, utopia and dystopia, architecture and landscape. She has been featured in numerous international exhibitions and platforms, concurrent to her audiovisual project with electronic composer and musician Roger Tellier-Craig as Le Révélateur. Spanning installations, GIFs, prints and live performances, her works have been exhibited with Paddles On! 1st Digital Art Auction at Phillips (New York), EMPAC (Troy), Museum of the Moving Image (New York), the International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2016 Pulse New York - Contemporary Art Fair, BIAN (Montreal), the Lampo series (Chicago), Elektra (Montreal), MUTEK (Montreal, Mexico, Barcelona). Her videos have been released on DVD by San Francisco label Root Strata and with video label Undervolt & Co. She is part of the online collective Computers Club and is represented by Laffy Maffei Gallery (Paris).
sabrinaratte.com

Sharsten Plenge is a curator inspired by a world saturated in digital excess, instant access, and convenience. Through her projects and mission of WOAH (We Open Art Houses), she seeks utopian residues in a pervasive atmosphere of screens, sensory overload, and urban greyfields. She has collaborated on projects in Berlin, Houston, New York, and Los Angeles, where she currently resides and founded WOAH in 2012.
woahis.us

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Sabrina Ratté will be in attendance for the opening reception 5:30pm-9:30pm October 6, 2016. On view through January 20, 2017.