Nos diables rouges, nos dérives commotions (…) danse papillon

Viewing Details:
This artwork will be screened nightly at 10pm throughout the Biennial, across multiple screens in Sankofa Square at the corner of Yonge & Dundas.

Additional screens at the corner of Yonge & Dundas will be part of this nightly presentation on the following dates: Sept 25 and 26; Oct 3, 29, 30, and 31.

Throughout November, this work will also be presented in Times Square as part of Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment program. The simultaneity of these presentations is an echo of the expansiveness of Creuzet’s references, clues to which cascade from his poetic artwork titles.

Artwork Description:
Meaningfully influenced by his Martinican intellectual lineage, Julien Creuzet brings ideas of creolization, errantry, and influence to his multimedia practice. Both a poet and visual artist, Julien combines multiple references and archives of information into expansive works, to which he frequently gives lengthy titles that act as short poems themselves. The figure of the Red Devil emerges from Martinican carnival traditions, although it is also referenced in Shrove Tuesday traditions in Haiti, Brazil, and the Gulf of Guinea. The symbolic presence of the Red Devil is a portal that allows for fluid interpretations, not only of this figure but of myriad references to Greek and Roman traditions; these are shifting symbols, encompassed by the Red Devil as a fluid, androgynous, untamed entity.

Full Artwork Title:
Nos diables rouges, nos dérives commotions :
De l’eau du large, ivrogne, de l’eau en étendue,
pour se laisser dévorer, Gorgone,
une surface pour s’étendre,
de l’eau une face, se défendre, miroir.
Ne pas croiser nos yeux, nos états vitreux,
bien-heureux, nos yeux et nos corps pierres.
Être tranchée, reflet lâche, où ruisselle, sang hideux.
Princesse éthiopienne dit à l’aide.
Voir, le jour, noir de pénombre.
Nous nous sommes sentis bleuir,
liberté des palabres molaires des paléontologues.
Analogue, larmes coagulées dans les rigoles,
vieux coquillages.
Ciel, la mer est jumelle.
Comment croire les deep fake,
vigie quand nos langues sont des peer to peer,
à n’en plus finir.
Louange sous ciel noir,
méduse n’est plus dans le rhizome des météores.
(Antiquités orientales, divination et algorithme, danse papillon), 2025

Additional work by Creuzet will be on view at the Art Museum throughout the Biennial. 

Nos diables rouges… is co-presented by the Toronto Biennial of Art, Sankofa Square, and Times Square Arts. Made possible with the generous support of Astral, Cadillac Fairview, Cieslok Group, and Mendes Wood DM. Works in the exhibition are co-presented with the Art Museum at the University of Toronto.