Sarah Wendt + Pascal Dufaux

Sarah Wendt + Pascal Dufaux are multidisciplinary artists living and working in Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. Their collaborative practice began in 2017 and involves sculpture, installation, video, and performance.

Although their work deals in themes of futurism and innovation, the artists reject technological determinism and eschew “sci-fi” labels. Although advanced technologies may be innovative, for the artists, innovation also means moving in the opposite direction, such as by simulating digital media using hand-manipulated physical materials. The result is to adopt advanced technology but not on its terms, shifting it instead into a new, “traditional” craft in which not only visual but also physical, tactile qualities are emphasized.

Their projects centre the body, its temporality and senses, and embodied practice, in the context of the present epoch and its many kindred anxieties: environmental/climate fragility, various mental health crises, and so many others. Against this socio-cultural backdrop, Wendt + Dufaux assert the pertinence of developing craft—the craft of the dancing body, of somatic making, and of sensory exploration—within the diverse context of an interdisciplinary practice.