Philomène Longpré
(Montreal, Québec, Canada)
Philomène Longpré is an artist, and SIP PhD candidate at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Since 1999, she has been conducting research on video screens, specifically on how a screen’s materiality, interactivity, and spatiality can augment an individual’s sensory, affective, and cognitive experience of a moving image. Longpré holds a Master of Arts and Technology Studies degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has pursued her research on responsive video membranes at the DXARTS Center in Seattle. She also obtained a BFA degree in Digital Arts from Concordia University.
Longpré has developed a series of interactive systems that juxtapose virtual characters, video displays, digital interfaces, and abstract sounds to intensify the visitor’s bodily experience. Her systems have been exhibited internationally at contemporary art galleries, museums, and digital arts festivals, including VIA, EXIT in France, COLLIDER, LOOPTOPIA United States/Hong Kong, NATURALMENTE Italy, BUDI South Korea, FILE Brazil, and NEXUS Thailand. Longpré has taught in the bachelor’s program in Art and Technology Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and at the University of Washington. Currently, she is conducting PhD research on video membranes as matrixes of sensations at the Centre for Sensory Studies in Montreal.
http://www.centreforsensorystudies.org/
XIA (2011)- Interactive Video System, Philomène Longpré. Photo Credits: Guy L’Heureux
XIA (2011) – Interactive Video System, Philomène Longpré. Photo Credits: Guy L’Heureux
XIA. Short Description
More information: http://www.centreforsensorystudies.org/portfolio/xia/
À travers ses œuvres, Longpré instaure un rapport intime entre ses personnages et le spectateur. Dans XIA l’artiste donne une corporéité singulière à l’écran, qui n’est plus une surface où sont projetées les images en mouvement; ici, il devient le support d’une peinture « augmentée » par l’image vidéo, jouant sur la perception du spectateur en créant une profondeur insolite, issue à la fois des traits appliqués au fusain sur l’écran et par la mise en scène de la captation vidéographique. Le visiteur plonge littéralement dans l’univers fictionnel, qui n’est plus abstrait du monde réel, mais, paradoxalement intégré à son espace et à sa réalité. Le personnage est ainsi près de lui, à la fois présent et immatériel. La relation privilégiée entre le personnage et le visiteur est intensifiée par un rapport direct entre les mouvements de ce dernier et les différents états de la figure féminine correspondant aux séquences vidéographiques et sonores émises.
XIA (2011)- Interactive Video System, Philomène Longpré. Photo Credit: Guy L’Heureux
XIA – selected publications:
- Moving among moving images: Philomene Longpre’s Xia. Jaenine Parkinson. Artengine. August, 2011 http://artengine.ca/blog/?p=2448
- Isa Tousignant’s Top 3: Into the Deeps. Isa Tousignant. Canadian Art Magazine. Dec. 2011 http://www.canadianart.ca/features/2011/12/22/isa_tousignant_top_3/
- Between Darkness and Light. Rebecca Hiscott. The Link. Sept.13, 2011 http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/1710
- The Various Contrivances of Philomène Longpré. Alison Syme. Sep. 2011 http://www.isomorphism.ro/textno1/philomene%20longpre.pdf
- Layoffs & Caravaggio at the National Gallery/Body Tracks at Gallery 101. Andrew Wright. Akimbo. June 2011 http://www.akimbo.ca/akimblog/?id=468
XIA (2011) – Interactive Video System, Philomène Longpré. Still images
FORMICA (2007) – Interactive Video System, Philomène Longpré.
Photo Credit: Musée LIFE, France
FORMICA (2007) – Interactive Video System, Philomène Longpré.
Photo Credit: Musée LIFE, France
FORMICA. Short Description
FORMICA is a pneumatic-driven interactive system with a strong metallic frame that houses a delicate video membrane consisting of a series of horizontal elastic slats. A projected virtual character seeks to create connections with visitors as soon as they enter the system’s environment. The visitors transform and trigger links or bonds with the character as infrared sensors pick up their presence and ultrasonic sensors detect their locations. These interactions are visually expressed on the membrane like firing neurons weaving a tapestry of associations. This system by Longpré has received the IT Federation of Quebec OCTAS Award for excellence in digital art and was exhibited at digital art Festivals, namely the 2012 BIAN – BIENNALE INTERNATIONALE D’ART NUMÉRIQUE DE MONTRÉAL, C-2MTL, 2011 Collider 3: Transform in the United States, Nouveaux Monstres in France, the Parisian Laundry, and the DX Center in
Canada.
More information: http://www.centreforsensorystudies.org/portfolio/formica/
FORMICA – selected publications:
- BIAN http://bianmontreal.ca/artists/#philomene-longpre-qc-ca
- OOH Mama – Philomène Longpré single-handedly reinvests video art with appeal by Isa Tousignant. Hour, Feb. 15th 2007 http://hour.ca/2007/02/15/ooh-mama/
- Les nouveaux monstres : cherchez l’horreur ! LISE DOMINGUEZ, Nord Eclair, France, 20 septembre 2009 http://www.nordeclair.fr/Locales/Lille/2009/09/20/les-nouveaux-monstres-cherchez-l-horreur.shtml
- Culture: Interaction virtuelle Michel Hellman, Le Devoir, Mtl, Feb. 12 2007. http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/arts-visuels/130846/exposition-interaction-virtuelle
- Formica vous observe! Ou est-ce l’inverse? Marilyse Hamelin, La Voix Pop. Feb. 2007 http://www.lavoixpop.com/Actualites/Enfant-Retour-Quebec/2007-02-02/article-1006888/Interaction-virtuelle/1
- Entretien avec Philomène Longpré de Guillaume Evrard. 50° revue d’art contemporain, n°1, France, Oct. 2010
- Dress to Kill Magazine, Nouvelle Vague, summer 2012 – No. 18, ” Art Interactif” by Paul Larson.
- WHAT BINDS US. Julie Bélisle. Jan. 2007
- http://philox.net/formica_system/ http://archee.qc.ca/ar.php?page=article&no=276
TV PBS – Digital Arts Biennial in Montreal. Paul Larson, May 31, 2012 (Aired : Thursday, May 31 at 8:30pm / Friday at 6am and 12:30pm / Saturday at 7:30pm/ Sunday at 6am and 10:30am.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjMpRcdSJDs&feature=player_embedded
ILLUSIO (2006) – Interactive Video System, Philomène Longpré. Photo Credit: Claudio Pino
ILLUSIO (2006) – Interactive Video System, Philomène Longpré. Photo Credit: Longpré
ILLUSIO. Short Description
ILLUSIO – A system where visitors trigger different emotional stages of a virtual character represented by different colors that infuse a perforated acrylic structure. Based on the location and motion of the visitors within the space of the exhibit, the character responds and reacts to the predicament of being trapped by the shadow of its own environment. The visual interaction with the viewer elicits memories, feelings, thoughts and emotions that reflect their own inner limitations. How we trap ourselves inside a transparent shell, yet gaze out at the world believing we are safe and protected. The outside world we witness is simply a reflection of our inner world where we draw illusory boundaries between ourselves, others and our surroundings. Our so-called reality, is essentially illusion conjured up by our own beliefs, thinking, biases and habitual reactions. All of which establish and reinforce our own limitations. This system by Longpré was exhibited at digital art Festivals, namely VIA and EXIT in France, Galerie UQAM in Canada, and Gallery L-2 in USA.
More information: http://philox.net/illusio_system/.
ILLUSIO – selected publications:
- Power of Illusion – Illusion of Power? Guillaume Evrard,
- Isomorphism, Art Interdisciplinary Field. March 2012, pp.60-66.
- http://www.isomorphism.ro/textno1/philomene%20longpre.pdf
- S(T)imulations. Lyne Crevier. ICI ,Vol 10, No 23 – du 8 au 14 mars 2007, Arts visuels, p. 46 March 8 2007.
- All Shook Up. Christine Redfern. Mirror, ARCHIVES: Mar 01-07.2007 Vol. 22 No. 36
- Basculer. Mélanie Boucher, Julie Bélisle, et Audrey Genois. Galerie de l’UQAM, Montreal, 2008.
- http://www.galerie.uqam.ca/fr/publications/74-basculer.html
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