LUC COURCHESNE | VUE D'ENSEMBLE

Luc Courchesne took part in the emergence of media arts thirty years ago when, as a video artist inspired by a generation of experimental filmmakers such as Michael Snow and Hollis Frampton, he adopted computer technologies. First delving into interactive portraiture, a great artistic tradition re-articulated in a new mould, his work has recently turned to another important genre, that of landscape. With his installations, "panoscopic" images, and a device of his own making used to create a sense of visual immersion, he transforms spectators into a visitors, actors and inhabitants of his experiential crafts.

Born 1952 in Québec, Courchesne received a Bachelor's degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax (1974), and a Master of Science in Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (1984). He began his explorations in interactive video in 1984 when he co-authored Elastic Movies, one of the earliest experiments in the field, and since produced about 30 installation works and image series including Encyclopedia Chiaroscuro (1987), Portrait One (1990), Family Portrait (1993), Hall of Shadows (1996), Landscape One (1997), Passages (1998), Rendez-vous... (1999), Panoscope 360° (2000-), Panoscopic Journal (2000-), The Visitor: Living by Numbers (2001), Untitled (2004), Where are you? (2005-2010), Horizons (2007), the Shores Series (2007-), Icons (2009) in a co-creation with artist and choreographer Marie Chouinard, the Posture platform for immersive telepresence (2010-), You are here (2010-) and McLuhan's Massage Parlor (2011).

His work is part of major collections in North America, Europe and Asia and has been shown extensively in galleries and museums worldwide including: Sydney's Art Gallery of New South Wales, New York's Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo's InterCommunication Center (ICC), Paris' La Villette, Karlsruhe's ZKM/Medienmuseum, Montreal's Musée d'art contemporain, the National Gallery of Canada, Barcelona's Fundacion La Caixa and Beijing's National Art Museum of China.

Based in Montreal, Luc Courchesne is professor of design at Université de Montréal, founding member of the Society for Art and Technology [SAT], board member of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He is represented by the galery Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain in Montreal and by the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in New York.