It was especially important to us to create a concept that would speak to both Alfred Dallaire’s life and work and the family’s legacy in the community. In looking through Alfred et moi, we were struck by how each life is memorialized in fragments– photographs, letters, objects. We applied this inspiration to the Dallaire family and through their family memories found a simple yet evocative concept to frame our program and scenography.
At the event, guests arrived to experience a visual poem celebrating the life and funerary work of Alfred Dallaire with areas to discover at one’s own pace as well as collective moments of celebration. An active environment melding both physical and digital works, the installation included 2D, 3D, and stop motion video productions (with original music recordings by XS and La Petite Boîte à Musique), and an immersive artistic sculpture of paper ribbons and lighting effects. In a resonant 3-minute video, through archival images of Montreal and objects belonging to Alfred Dallaire, we told story of this remarkable man and his family’s legacy in the Montreal community.