QUÉBEC CITY, June 16, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - On June 17, the Musée de la civilisation will open a very bold exhibition, entitled Oh Shit! Both serious and playful, this groundbreaking show will explore every facet of the world's most underrated, limitless resource. Immersed in the multidisciplinary museological approach that has set the Musée de la civilisation apart for over three decades, visitors will discover our complex relationship with excrement, the issues of managing fecal waste in Quebec and elsewhere in the world, and the health crises, sanitation issues and the hope that comes with reclaiming human dejecta.
Led beyond their preconceptions, visitors will learn that excrement can be recovered as a valuable and sustainable resource to preserve the planet's future. Through the lenses of microbiology, anatomy, social history and anthropology, as well as art, engineering and ecology, visitors will ultimately be inspired to question their own relationship to the body, to intimacy, to disgust and to the taboo associated with poop. And what if it was seen as a resource instead of waste? Oh Shit! is serious business.
An "excremently" rich exhibit
Created and produced by the Musée de la civilisation, Oh Shit! is presented by H₂O Innovation with collaboration from RECYC-QUÉBEC and Cascades and participation from Les Cabinets and Fairmont Le Château Frontenac as the official hotel. The Musée de la civilisation is proud to present this exhibition, which combines the audacity and intelligence required to deal with such a highly relevant, topical subject. Visitors will be transported on a journey that will most certainly entertain and amuse, but that will also spark reflection on significant environmental and societal issues. This exhibition is an original idea of the Musée de la civilisation, which is responsible for its creation, design and production. It will run from June 17, 2021, to March 26, 2023.
The museum itinerary takes visitors through a series of didactic, immersive and interactive spaces. The diverse content teaches about the practices of other times and cultures, and encourages visitors to think critically about waste management in developed countries that consume too much water. Above all, the exhibition provides an overview of the situation in countries facing urgent health crises (water pollution by fecal matter, unequal access to toilets, etc.).
Stops at stations along the way invite play, humour and discovery. The CACArcade, produced by the Montréal-based firm CREO, proposes video games leading to an artistic and playful interactive experience on the health issues linked to fecal-matter management. At the other end of the technological spectrum, visitors will delve into the immersive experience of a collective toilet from Roman antiquity: nine holes cut into a stone bench, with bonus cleaning sticks. An authentic period recreation that will add some interest to your Instagram feed!
This unprecedented exhibition will incite visitors to reconsider everything they think they know about poop. They will truly understand more about this amazing and unsuspecting material that we come into contact with daily but avoid really seeing.
Quotes:
"I am proud to be associated, through the Crown corporation RECYC-QUÉBEC, with this surprising and daring exhibition at the Musée de la civilisation de Québec. It is an opportunity for a fascinating incursion into the field of fecal-matter management, a taboo subject in our society, but one that concerns us all. Thank you to the Musée and its partners who, like RECYC-QUÉBEC, stop at nothing to educate us, make us think and, why not, make us smile, too."
Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change
"Boldness is typical of the Musée de la civilisation, and this surprising exhibition, delivered with relevance and intelligence, is proof. In our mission to represent society, we strive to provide cross-cutting perspectives on all subjects related to human life. And sometimes, to encourage learning, that means focusing on taboos! Oh Shit! will surprise and astonish. It will bring a laugh, but above all, it will bring you a deeper perspective into social and environmental issues that are important for the future. And if there is a universal subject that can bring us together, whoever we may be, well, this is it!"
Stéphan La Roche, President and CEO, Musée de la civilisation
"You may not realize it, but what's passing through your toilet is tons of material that have extraordinary recovery potential. RECYC-QUÉBEC is pleased to be a part of this bold and instructive exhibition at the Musée de la civilisation. Thanks to this collaboration, we can illustrate how these materials can be managed in a healthy and optimal way to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change."
-Sonia Gagné, President and CEO, RECYC-QUÉBEC
"We are very proud to partner with the Musée de la civilisation as the presenter of the Oh Shit! exhibition. As a water-treatment company, we understand the importance of informing people about water reuse, a sustainable solution for a finite resource."
-Frederic Dugré, President and CEO, H2O Innovation
"Oh Shit! naturally aligns with our new sustainable development plan. Cascades takes the issues of a circular economy, eco-responsibility education and community involvement very seriously in developing solutions. We are proud to participate in this bold project."
-Isabelle Gendron, Product Manager, Cascades.
Highlights:
- Many lenders and partners showed interest in the exhibition by lending works, objects and prototypes. This includes, for example, the designers of the award-winning self-sufficient toilet in the Reinvent the Toilet competition, launched in 2018 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Musée collection also includes interesting and even unusual vintage objects and documents;
- The exhibition poster features Gold Shit, a piece by artist Ava Shire;
- The Montréal-based firm CREO designed the CACArcade, an artistic and fun interactive experience addressing the health issues related to fecal-matter management. Four video games about poop allow you to play with elements from the exhibition: The Wheel of Misfortune, Caca'MAn, Shoot the Poo and Super Microbiota. Each game is played with a joystick (and following public health recommendations). Each device contains relevant artifacts, archival materials or objects in the adjacent pipes and all consoles are accessible to people with limited mobility;
- Set designer Véronique Bertrand created Planet Toilets, a hallway of toilets, which offers a critical typology of defecation habits around the world and their respective issues. Véronique Bertrand uses the same approach as in theatre (props and staging) to present realistic sets and scene reconstructions with strong evocative power;
- Combining comedy with science, actor and show host Stéphane Bellavance narrates six video clips on exhibition themes. He will also present the virtual launch activities on June 16 at 6:30 on the Musée de la civilisation Facebook page.
Related links:
Musée de la civilisation: http://www.mcq.org
SOURCE Musée de la civilisation
Press relations: Québec City: Anne-Sophie Desmeules: 418-643-2158, ext. 208; email: [email protected], Agnès Dufour: 418-643-2158 ext. 433; email: [email protected]; Montréal: Rosemonde Gingras: 514-458-8355; email: [email protected]
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