Didier Morelli, 1.52 x 2.42 meters, digital intervention into a photograph of Alex Colville and his mural Athletes (1961), 2019, photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Opening Exercises
Art and sports are often considered so separate as to be almost opposed. In fact, they may easily complement each other in the creation of shared communities and spaces. In Opening Exercises, artist Didier Morelli sets out to explore this very connection. Using Alex Colville’s mural Athletes (1961) as a point of departure, the artist mines material from the Mount Allison University Archives, combining it with his own work and written contributions from curators Eunice Bélidor and Camille Georgeson-Usher, both of whom have relationships to distance running. The resultant installation proposes “a series of starting points moving out in various other directions,” and thus emphasizes unexpected connections and moments of collaboration as well as divergence.