Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie, in collaboration with Loto-Québec and the Musée d’art de Joliette, is pleased to announce the selection of the artist who will carry out the next Photographic Mission in the Lanaudière region. Following a call for projects launched across Québec, and from among some thirty applications, the jury has chosen the proposal by Loïc Chauvin.
→ A Project Bridging Science, Image and Territory
Titled Shoot, the project revisits a 19th-century scientific device: the photographic gun invented in 1882 by Étienne-Jules Marey. The artist proposes to rebuild it and situate it within a contemporary context — that of waterfowl hunting in Lanaudière.
“For this mission I will rebuild the photographic gun in order to go hunting for images of geese, ducks and brants,” explains the artist. “At once sculptural, performative and photographic, this project explores, through an anachronistic shift, the enduring links between the capture of images and the capture of living beings. The results will bring together both the images produced by the device and those documenting its activation in the field.”
→ A Visual and Symbolic Legacy
In the fall of 1882, Étienne-Jules Marey developed a curious invention: a rifle capable of capturing motion. By aiming at a flock of birds in flight, he triggered a mechanism that recorded, on a rotating light-sensitive plate, a series of successive images. This process marked a key step in the history of motion decomposition and foreshadowed the emergence of cinema.
Beyond the technical innovation, the photographic gun embodies a tension that remains relevant today: that between observation and appropriation of reality. “I am fascinated by the gap between the form of the object — a weapon — and the images it produces: fragile traces of birds in flight,” adds Loïc Chauvin. “The English word shoot, still used in photography, bears witness to this legacy in which the camera aims, fires, and captures.”
→ A Two-Season Mission
The Photographic Mission will take place in the Lanaudière region between summer and fall 2026. The works resulting from this endeavor will be presented at the Musée d’art de Joliette in 2027 (dates to come), and subsequently at the 18th edition of Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie in 2027.
→ About the Artist
Based in Montreal, Loïc Chauvin holds a master’s degree in Sculpture from Concordia University (2026). His practice stages simple devices that disrupt expectations: apologetic control machines, elusive birdhouses, and photographic materials concealed within the landscape.
By mobilizing plants, animals, sensors and protocols, he explores the relationships between humans and living beings, and questions the mechanisms of control. Inspired equally by the natural sciences, minimalism and surrealism, his works combine poetry, material constraints, humor, and strangeness.
Top image : © Clara Lacasse, Bleu pigeon, installation view, 2026.