LONGPRE` PHILOMENE
Biography
She is a Canadian artist born in Montreal. She explores the intricate interactions between the physical and virtual worlds. Since 1999, her main focus has been on the development of Interactive Video Systems that juxtapose responsive membranes, virtual characters, digital interfaces and abstract sounds to elicit new communication between visitors and their environments. She received her MFA in Art and Technology at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and her a BFA at Concordia University in Montreal. She is pursuing her PhD in Digital Arts and Experimental Media at DXARTS, University of Washington, Seattle USA and at Concordia University, Montreal Canada.
Up to now, she have developed ten different interactive systems introducing the interplay of subject and object in continuous motion. The initial systems began with Plato’s Cavern (2000), followed by Cycle (2001), Passage (2002) and Silence Inexistent (2002), which present characters that translate their environments continuously. In her pieces: Octopus (2003),Formica (2004), Vita (2005) and Illusio (2006) the virtual character constantly redefines itself through interaction with the visitors who actively participate by influencing the changing environment. As the participants/viewers roam around the space, direct communication is triggered, oftentimes unexpectedly, as the video itself and the chain of action/reactions cause the responsive membrane to react. The resulting interplay between the character, the video’s membrane and the audience elicits numerous emotional responses that turn a robotic pneumatic controlled structure into a life force
that confronts the frontiers of its own individuality.
SELECTED SHOWS
2011 - Collider3. The Emily Davis Gallery, Akron, Ohio, USA
2011 - Nouveaux Monstres. TNT Museum, Toulouse, France
2010 - Life. International Festival, Life Museum, Saint-Nazaire, France; EXIT. International Festival, Créteil, France; VIA. International Festival, Maubeuge, France
2009 - Digital Art International Festival, Montreal, Canada;
2007 - IRIS Video Systems. Hong Kong Arts School, HK, Hong Kong; LOOPTOPIA, Telematic Exchanges SAIC Chicago and Hong Kong Arts Center; Festival Di Cupramontana co-curato da PrimoPiano LivinGallery, Italy; BASCULER New Media Exhibit. UQAM Gallery, Montreal, Canada; Parisian Laundry Gallery, Montreal, Canada
2006 - NATURALMENTE. PrimoPiano Living Art Gallery, Lecce, Italy;G2 Gallery, Chicago, USA; Interactive Playground: Sight Unseen. Beverly Art Center, USA; Bodies of Work- The Chicago Festival of Disability Arts and Culture. Chicago
2005 - 19e Festival International FICFA- New Media. Moncton, NB, Canada;BUDi, Digital Art Festival. Kyungsung Art University, Busan, Korea; Snow Print Film Festival. Las Manos Gallery, Chicago, USA; Nippon-USA Contest. Nippon Steel Gallery Chicago, USA; FILE, Electronic Art Festival. SESI Art Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2004 - DIGIFEST Festival. Design Exchange Center of Toronto, Canada; Thailand New Media Art Festival 2004. Bristish Council of Bangkok, Thaïland
2003 - Elsewhere International Exhibition 2003. Montreal, Canada; Promo 4.3, Festival Digital Art. Society of art and technology, Mtl, Canada
2002- Stanley Mills Purchase Prize Exhibit. Montreal, Canada; Sculpture Union 413 Exhibit. Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA;Elsewhere International Exhibition 2002. VAV Gallery, Montreal, Canada
2001 - Undergraduates Show. Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Montreal, Canada;VAV Gallery. Montreal, Canada
1999 - Respiration. Gesu Cultural Center, Montreal, Canada
1998 - Absurdité. Gallery Tierra del Fuego, Montreal, Canada
1997 - Sculptures. Onzième Gallery, Montreal, Canada
SELECTED AWARDS
2010-2011 R.Howard Webster Foundation Doctoral Fellowship
2006-2009 Grant Media Arts. CALQ Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
2008 - FQRSC. PhD, Government of Quebec Research Grant; The OCTAS Merit Award in Digital Arts, FiQ
2005 - The Award Judith Hamel. The Best New Media Artwork FICFA, Moncton,NB
2004 - The Alfred Pinsky Medal. Concordia University; Purchase Art Grad Prize. Concordia University
2003 - Hexagram Prize of Excellence in New Media,Institute for Research and Creation in Media Arts and Technologies
2002 - The Golden Key Excellence Prize. International Honor Society
2001 - The Stanley Mills Purcharse Prize. Concordia University; The New Millenium Bursary in Arts of Canada.
Piano
