8. NSPLL!!, 2021, Ludovic Boney
The second contemporary piece, and our second last piece in this blog, is Ludovic Boney’s NSPLL!!. This is a 2021 installation piece. Born in Wendake, Boney specializes in large-scale public art projects that have been featured in museums across Quebec. Boney is inspired by modern, urban infrastructure, often using various building materials and things he finds on the streets, to comment on the intersection between art and architecture, the natural world and the manufactured (Perrault, 2018).
NSPLL is an acronym for the words Boney’s mom would say as a kid to get him to stop jumping on the bed. The installation is one that the viewer must interact with, walking through a maze of mattresses surrounded on either side by kinetic elements all springing to life when the mattresses are stepped on (Perrault, 2018).
The elements triggered by stepping on the mattresses are quick to capture attention, a comment on the fast-paced world created by overconsumption and capitalism. It rejects this modern approach by contrasting it with the natural world (Perrault, 2018). Items range from plastic animal toys to objects representing outdoor activities like swimming, hunting and fishing. All items are superficial, yet recall some element of the outdoors. Presented with these superficial experiences of nature created by overconsumption, it encourages the viewer to place importance back on the land and the outdoors.
While not directly commenting on his Wendat heritage, Boney’s NSPLL!! recalls land ethics and traditional ways of being central to the Wendat way of life. He reminds us of what living on the land can look like through deep contrasts with the plastic items we consume. He depicts skills that his people once relied on to survive, like fishing and hunting, to contrast the hedonism of spending and consumption in the modern era. He is reclaiming public-facing art – using it to develop messaging for those outside of his community and rejecting Western capitalistic ways of being.