UnderLayers  digital video installation, Philomène Longprè

Philomène Longprè who is interested in virtual character and space where different types of life exist, talks about a space we have never been before but exists around us.  "UnderLayers" shows a virtual character living somewhere between and behind the walls at the gallery space.  Like the unknown wonderland in the cabinets shown at the end scene of the SF movie "Men in Black II" (2002) by Barry Sonnenfeld, you might imagine that another life or post-being (with no distinction between with/without disability) might live with harmony in Philomene’s interesting wall.   by Byeong Sam Jeon

UnderLayers presents a virtual character that occupies the space between and behind walls.  The character observes the viewer and performs, challenging us to confront our desire to return the gaze and observe the character’s evolution. By this interaction, in which viewers are being watched, UnderLayers elicits reflections on the significance of contemporary issues revolving around auto-surveillance and total-vigilance. This installation, composed of a small video screens inserted within a wall, gives voice to the memory of the physical environment and captures the deep incertitude and urgent feelings of the virtual character. Poetically, it expresses our emotional awareness on many different levels—questioning urban life itself, our own perceptions of everyday interaction, and the roles we all play in our usual environments.

Biography:

Philomène Longpré is a multimedia artist who is engaged in exploring the intricate interactions between the physical and virtual world. Over the past seven years, she has created interactive video systems that function mainly via the language of social gesturing and various behavioral patterns. Each installation investigates the potentialities of the relationship between a virtual character and visitors, by creating emotional, physical and intellectual connections. Currently, she is pursuing her research at the School of Art Institute of Chicago where she is developing a network where several virtual characters and their immersive environments will be able to communicate with each other and with the visitors.

Her interactive video systems have been shown in international electronic art festivals such as BUDi05 Busan (2005), FILE Sao Paulo (2004), Digifest Toronto (2004), Nexus Bangkok (2004), FIFCA Moncton (2005), Promo4.3 Montreal (2004) and has exhibited in several contemporary art galleries in Canada and the United States. Ms. Longpré also has the distinction of being the recipient of the Hexagram's Prize of Excellence of New Media (2003), the Judith Hamel New Media Award (2005), the Pinsky Medal(2004), the Studio Arts Concordia (2004), the New Millennium Scholarship (2001), the Stanley Mills Prize Purchase (2001), the Golden Key International Honour Society (2002), the CVM Culture Merite Award (1999).

Philomène received a MFA degree in Art and Technology Studies from the School of Art Institute of Chicago. Her graduate studies were funded through two merit-based awards: the Art Institute’s Trustee Scholarship as well as the FQRSC Quebec grant for research in Society and Culture. She also completed a BFA degree specializing in Electronic Art at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. During the course of her undergraduate studies, she took part in a one-year student exchange program at the University of New Mexico and also she participated in a six-month granted art project in South Asia.