Plastisapiens

Miri Chekhanovich is a multidisciplinary visual artist who amalgamates biomaterial research, video and installation. Born in Armenia, she grew up in Jerusalem and immigrated to Canada in 2013. She currently lives and works in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). Her creation emerges from a gentle state of emergency, which leads her to sharing and intervention in public space. The artist is interested in neglected materials, geological history, wounds and the illusion of time. Her work is an invitation to slow down and develop a strong sense of care. Her video installation Being with has been presented by the Phi Center in Montreal, as well as in the 2019 Venice Biennale. Her bioplastic works have been exhibited internationally, including at the Centre Pompidou in Paris for the Hors Pistes 2021 Festival. Since 2019, Miri has been working in a duo with filmmaker Édith Jorisch. After their first collaboration, the Plastisapiens experiment, which premiered at Tribeca, they are currently developing the video installation project Fruit Opera.

Édith Jorisch is a Montreal-based filmmaker. Questioning contemporary notions of identity and migration, she directs and writes documentary and fiction films. Her work takes a human, bittersweet look at the vices of our society. Her documentary L'héritier was selected at FIFA in 2017 and won the Gémeaux awards for best direction and best documentary program. Her work has been broadcast on Télé-Québec, Radio-Canada, RDI, TV5, TF1 and Histoire. In 2018, Édith directed the short film Awe, which stood out for its hybrid style and premiered on the NOWNESS platform. She then turned to fiction with the short film Tibbits Hill, an allegorical fable about music as an anti-militaristic weapon, which earned her a selection at the FNC 2021 and the Best Fiction Short Film Award at the RVQC 2022. The director is currently writing her first feature film, selected in 2020 at the Forge Québec Cinéma, presented by Netflix. She is also developing the video installation project Fruit Opera in collaboration with Miri Chekhanovich, with whom she created the Plastisapiens experience, which premiered at Tribeca.