The world in 2023 | These artists who helped me sleep

The late Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, winner of a Palme d’Or for The taste of cherryhad formulated a strange reflection on his art during an interview in 2000. He said he was delighted when moviegoers fell asleep watching his works.

It was in 2023 that I was able to make sense of his surprising statement. My job, you see, keeping an eye on the entire planet to exchange ideas, analysis and opinions with you, has caused me to lose sleep frequently this year. Because the events I have looked at have often highlighted the worst of what the world has to offer. But also because finding the right words to talk about it is often difficult. Behind each column, there are hesitations and difficult choices.

What have I found to soothe my journalistic insomnia or lighten my heart? Art, in all its forms.

I therefore offer you a retrospective of 2023 through the major international events that marked it and the creative antidotes that allowed me to find a bit of serenity.

The Russo-Ukrainian War

The year had started so well on the Ukrainian front. Attacked head-on by Russia in 2022, the country led by Volodymyr Zelensky seemed in a position of strength at the start of 2023. The allies were becoming more and more generous. The Ukrainian army was gaining ground. In Russia, Vladimir Putin was challenged by one of his close friends, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in an abortive mutiny. At the end of the year, however, the situation is very different. The Ukrainian counter-offensive is stalling. We see cracks appearing in the leadership in Kyiv. Western support – particularly that of the United States – is running out of steam. Imagine, it is in the hands of Congress, one of the most dysfunctional democratic organizations in the West!

Antidote: Pussy Riot

Pussy Riot arrived in Montreal like a wind of revolt this fall. In an exhibition, still on view at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) and in a one-night show at the Rialto Theater, the members of this Russian artistic collective condemned by the Kremlin reminded me that dissidence is alive and well and that solidarity with Ukraine sometimes has a Russian face. Enjoyable and noisy. Perfect for letting the bad guy out.

Coups d’état in Africa

The least we can say is that the time has not come for stability in the large central strip of the African continent. Grappling with jihadist violence, several countries in and around the Sahel have suffered military coups over the past three years. After Mali (2021), Guinea (2021), Sudan (2021), Burkina Faso (2022), it was the turn this year of Niger, the last ally of the West in the region. France and its postcolonial system have been at the heart of the recriminations, fueled in part by propaganda manufactured in Moscow. No surprise that Russia and its mercenaries for hire are among the main beneficiaries of these events, including the war in Sudan, in which two former allies are shooting at each other and terrorizing the population.

Antidote: Tremors

We come away exhausted from this play written by Torontonian Christopher Morris, which I was able to see at Espace Go. The actress Debbie Lynch-White is Marie, a Quebec nurse sent to the Central African Republic by Doctors Without Borders. She comes back tormented, hurt, full of doubts about her presence as a privileged White in the heart of human misery. We nevertheless draw the conclusion that international commitment is much better than indifference, even if it does not leave us intact.

Donald Trump’s turpitudes with the justice system

Can you keep up with all the twists and turns in the many ongoing trials of the former President of the United States? There is sometimes talk of his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection against the Capitol, his management of classified documents, a plot to overthrow the 2020 election, defamation and money paid to buy the silence of ‘a porn star. And despite all that, he finished the year well ahead in the race for the Republican nomination. What more can be said ?

Antidote: America cries, Dashing Cowboys

I was among the lucky ones who were able to attend the Cowboys Fringants concert at the Festival d’été de Québec sur les Plaines in July. If the song America cries was relevant when it was created in 2020, it is even more poignant today. “The question I ask myself all the time / But how do all these people / To still believe in life / In this hypocrisy? », sang Karl Tremblay that evening to nearly 90,000 fans, five months before his big departure. The fervor with which the crowd sang the tune that night was a great medicine for cynicism.

The repression of the Women, Life, Freedom Movement in Iran

If, last year, many of us saluted the courage of the young women who were at the heart of a huge revolt in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, for wearing a poorly worn veil, we There were also many who observed from afar the terrible repression that followed this year. Mass arrests, hasty convictions and executions have thrown immense buckets of cold water on the protest, but without succeeding in completely extinguishing it.

Antidote: the work The Fury (The Fury), by artist Shirin Neshat at the Phi Center

Experiencing the horror in an Iranian prison and experiencing the consequences, even in exile. This is the theme of the multimedia installation by the Iranian artist that the Phi Center, in Old Montreal, presented this fall. Thanks to virtual reality, we find ourselves in the shoes of a political prisoner surrounded by her tormentors. Violence is suggested rather than shown. Our empathy is called upon like never before. After the visit/viewing, the news from Iran no longer speaks to the head, but to the gut.

The Israel-Hamas war (October)

Since the horrific attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7 and the start of the merciless Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, the resumption of the conflict in the Middle East has taken center stage. And for good reason. Human suffering is unbearable. For a columnist, taking a stand is like walking through a minefield. We must report on what is happening, despite limited access to sources in Gaza, putting the facts in context while keeping in mind the explosive climate in which the war is taking place, in the Middle East as well as here. We can’t sleep soundly, but that’s nothing compared to what our colleagues and civilians in general are experiencing who are caught in the destructive whirlwind of hostilities.

Antidote: the symphony Leningrad

The Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich was a cunning person who hid political and social criticism in his work, Yannick Nézet-Séguin explained to us before leading the Orchester Métropolitain de Montréal in his interpretation of the symphony. Leningrad in mid-November. During World War II, starving musicians in besieged Leningrad played it as a sign of defiance against the German enemy. Today, this symphony denounces authoritarianism and cruelty in all their forms. Cathartic, at this sad end of the year.