From June 13 to August 16, 2026, UQAM professors Nancy Bussières, co-investigator at the École supérieure de théâtre, and Julie Trudel, collaborator at the École des arts visuels et médiatiques, will present a new work as part of the Spectrum (Spektri, in Finnish) exhibition at the prestigious Finlayson Art Area 2026 Festival in Finland.
They will present Saillie II, a work at the intersection of painting and stage lighting. The worlds of the two artists meet to develop a hybrid language combining material and light: a luminous composition designed by Bussières reveals, masks, or amplifies the physical presence of Trudel’s plexiglass sculpture.
This new piece creates a unique experience of color and movement through a custom rotating lighting system designed by mechanical engineering students from ÉTS under the supervision of co-investigator David St-Onge.
Saillie II was produced, among other support, with funding from the Hexagram Network’s Support Program for Collective Initiatives and during a research residency at Hexagram-UQAM.
Glowing in an International Exhibition
The Spectrum exhibition also features works by Erik Nieminen, as well as Maija Annikki Savolainen and Jaakko Mattila. It brings these artists together around a shared interest in light, while also alluding to the iterative and bicultural nature of the exhibition’s creative process. The connections woven between the works position light as a source of existence, spirituality, science, thought, and creation.
Spectrum poetically explores the fascination with the power of light to conceal, dissolve, and reveal, a theme reflected throughout the exhibition. Omnipresent yet elusive, light offers a way to approach what transcends the visible: natural phenomena, visual perception, and the cosmos. Through it, the artists seek to materialize attributes that would otherwise remain invisible, infinitesimal, or mysterious.
Source and images : Nancy Bussières & Julien Trudel.
Design Team
Artistic Assistants
- Laura Dominguez, student member, UQAM
- Emy Gagnon Gelinas, student, UQAM
Electronic Design
Carpentry
- Vincent Lussier
- Gregory Prescott
Mechanical Engineering
- Émile Bernard, student, ÉTS
- Émeric Coulombe, student, ÉTS
- Eli Dansereau, student, ÉTS
- Cédrick Laflamme, student, ÉTS
- Étienne Montenegro, student, ÉTS
- Derek Paprah, student, ÉTS
- David St-Onge, co-investigator member, ÉTS
Technical Support
This project is supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Université du Québec à Montréal, the Réseau Hexagram, Hexagram-UQAM, the Faculty of Arts at UQAM, and Atelier Clark.
Published on June 2, 2026
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