As of November 1, 2019, the installation La Ofrenda by artist Martin Rodriguez inaugurates the next programming cycle of TOPO's Vitrine under the theme of Frontière, which will run until 2021. The program includes exhibitions in the Vitrine on the ground floor of the Pôle de Gaspé, workshops, performances, screenings, and artist presentations.

The first cycle, Cultures, languages, spiritualities: beyond bordersbrings together three artists from across the Americas who explore the rediscovery of roots and heritage through questions about memory and death.

La Ofrenda (The Offering) is an installation inspired by the artist's experience of being in remission from a brain tumor, which questions the reasons for hope when faced with death. This installation expresses these feelings by exploring the wonder of the specter of death through the transformation of sounds and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images of the artist's brain into an enchanted audiovisual altar. This work is inspired by the altars found in homes and businesses in Mexico during the Day of the Dead, a time of year when people can communicate with the souls of those who have passed away.

The fog of chemo and numbness of radiation. The brain surgery. Paralysis. The seizure that exposed it all. The sterile sounds of the hospital. One must find a way to survive.

This visual and audio offering uses the sounds of the artist's MRI through transducers attached to the strings and body of the guitar. The result is a mixture of musical notes, machine noises, and radio frequencies. These sounds in turn control the MRI video images, installed inside an antique tube radio. With this work, the artist indirectly explores his own mortality in an attempt to reconcile his understanding of impermanence.