Luc Courchesne

Luc Courchesne has been studying the problems of interactive concepts since the early 1980's. In connection with exhibition design projects, he was concerned with the implementation of multi-media in museums and studies of light in interiors. After many experiments with photography, film and video, he concentrated on the presentation of portraits. Through video as a medium, Courchesne investigates conversation patterns and the process of self-presentation. In his interactive individual and group portraits he reveals the complex relationships between facial expression, gestures and language and draws the visitor into the dialogue process. 

Education
1974 Bachelor of Design and Communications, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax
1984 Master of Science in Visual Studies at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts
1984-85 Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts 

Teaching
Since 1986 Professor at the École de Design Industriel, Université de Montréal 

Awards/Scholarships (selection)
1991-93 Artist in residence at the Institut Méditerranaen de Recherche et de Création (IMEREC), Marseille
1992 Distinction in the Interactive Art category for »Portrait no. 1« of the Prix Ars Electronica, Linz
1995 Artist in residence at the ZKM⎢Institute for Visual Media, Karlsruhe
1997 Artist in residence at the Museum of New Zealand, Wellington 

Solo exhibitions (selection)
1988 »Encyclopedie clair-obscure«, PRIM, Montréal
1990 »Portrait no. 1«, PRIM, Montréal
1993 »Luc Courchesne: Portraits«, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; »Portrait de Familie«, Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille
1994 »Project 43: Luc Courchesne«, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; »Portrait of Paula Dawson«, Ian Potter Foundation Gallery, Melbourne; »Portrait no. 1«, Musée d'art contemporain, Nice
1995 »Portrait One«, World Wide Video Center, The Hague

Group exhibitions (selection)
1983 »Boston Now«, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston
1991 »Tomorrow's Reality«, Siggraph '91, Las Vegas
1993 »Machine Culture«, Siggraph '93, Anaheim; »The Interactive Garden«, Muu Media Festival, Helsinki
1994 »Artifices 3«, Paris
1995 »Info Art«, Kwangju Biennale '95, Korea
1996 »DEAF 96«, V2, Rotterdam; »Memesis - Die Zukunft der Evolution«, Ars Electronica, Linz
1997 ICC Biennale '97, Tokyo

Museums/Collections (selection)
»Portrait no. 1«, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; private collections in Marseille, New York, San Diego; »Paula, Twelve of Us, Marie a New York, Past and Future Wheel, Lightproof Suit, Bob Rosinsky's Sister« (video tapes), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; PRIM, Montréal; Videographe, Montréal; Université du Quebec à Montréal, Montréal; Art Bank, Canada Council, Ottawa

Literature (selection)
Courchesne, Luc: "Family Portrait", »Computer Graphics - Visual Proceedings«, Anaheim 1991; Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canada, Ottawa (ed.): »Luc Courchesne -
Portraits interactifs«, Ottawa 1993; Baissier, Jean-Louis; Duguet, Anne-Marie (ed.): »Artifices 3 - Mise en mémoire/Accès à la Memoire - Installations Laboratoire«, Paris 1994; Huhtamo, Erkki: »Interactive Garden - Third Exhibition of Interactive Art«, Helsinki 1993; London, Barbara: »Projects 47: Luc Courchesne«, New York 1994; Rubinstein, Ronda: "Talking Portraits", »Wired«, Mai 1994; ZKM⎢Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ed.): »artintact 2 - CD-ROMagazin interaktiver Kunst«, Ostfildern 1995; Racine, Yolande: »Corps à la dérive Montréal, Montréal 1996; Lovejoy, Margot: »Postmodern Currrents - Art and Artists in the Age of Electronic Media«, New Jersey 1997

Works (selection)
»Twelve of Us«, 1982 (video); »Bob Rosinsky's Sister«, 1982 (video); »The Past and Future Wheel«, 1983 (video); »Paula«, 1983 (video); »Elastique Movies«, 1984 (interactive installation); »Letter to the Unknown«, 1986 (video); »Encyclopedia Chiaroscuro«, 1987 (interactive installation); »Portrait One«, 1990 (interactive installation); »Family Portrait«, 1993 (interactive installation); »Hall of Shadows«, 1996 (interactive installation); »Landscape One«, 1997 (interactive installation); »Passages«, 1998 (interactive installation); »Rendez-vous«, 1999 (interactive installation)

[1997]