Cortège

Cortège is a somatic work of art that uses smartphone technology to act on the social body.

Half alternate reality game, half happening, Cortège offers an experience that is initially solitary, in which an automated system bids each person to abandon their individual reservations in order to join a collective impetus whose purpose remains hidden. Cortège proposes an experience that draws on the participatory and performing practice in contemporary art, on the immersive aspects of digital arts and utilizes certain game art mechanics.

This work of art thrusts participants into an immersive soundscape infiltrated by artificial voices whispering commands in an effort to temporarily take control of their lives. These voices, in the manner of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, lead the members of Cortège in a procession through the city streets.

Cortège is the first smartphone app to have become part of the City of Montreal’s public art collection. Cortège can only be experienced along the Promenade Fleuve-Montagne in Montreal.

This project is a produced by Projet EVA.

Credits

Original Idea and Concept
Etienne Grenier
Simon Laroche

Sound design
Roger Tellier Craig

Application and software development
Turbulent

Graphic Design
Devine Lu Linvega

Communications and community management
Yuani Fragata
Sarah Ève Tousignant

Acknowledgements
Laurent Vernet
Marie-Claude Langevin
Nathalie Bachand
Benjamin Fardel

Video Documentation
Tomi Grgicevic

Photo Documentation and video campaign
Gridspace