Uploaded February 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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Luc Courchesne is a 2021 winner of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. Directed by Patrick Péris.
A co-production of the Canada Council for the Arts and Toribou Productions. A presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance.
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm's-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 (Canada Council for the Arts Act) "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."
For more information, visit: en.ggarts.ca
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Transcript:
I think the artist’s role has not changed very much throughout the history of art. Our mission is to understand the world we live in and, if we find something, to share it using the tools we have.
I always thought that a work of art is simply a moment in a very, very long process.
I see it as a process. In other words, today, before you got here, I was working on something and, when you leave, I will work on something else.
At some point, you will have a public rendezvous. Your film will be ready. It will be seen by someone, or my next project will be presented or exhibited.
So those are moments, but the process itself is in fact fairly uninterrupted.
Because often, the next project will be inspired by what you didn’t like in the previous one.
You say to yourself, “Oh, I wanted to do this, but it didn’t work. I’ll try again in the next project.”
At the beginning, technological art was very technological—it had very little to do with art and a lot to do with technology.
Towards the end, when we had successfully mastered the medium, we could make art that was secondarily technological.
But we were making art and that was the whole point. We don’t want to be technology artists; we want to be artists.
Technology is simply what dates the work. The work done in the 1990s is dated by the technology we were using at the time.
But the artistic quest in itself is the same in all of human history.
I don’t believe in it. There is a lot of talk about augmented reality and virtual reality, but reality is what you experience. There is only one reality. And it is augmented by experiences.
Being immersed in a space that is not visible to the naked eye but that lets us understand the infinitely small or infinitely large, or our place in the universe, or our place in the world, or our impact on ecosystems can enable us to live more environmentally responsible lives.
Art must take on the complex challenges involved in the shift towards digital technology critically.
That is, we are not going to do what the industry asks us to do, or what the devices are made for.
We’re going to hijack them. We’re going to do something with them. Just to learn how this world where we mix atoms and bits, or technology and the analogue, the physical and the virtual... how to integrate that so that it’s fluid and it’s made for us humans.
It’s not over until it’s over, as we say, and I continue to be challenged and excited by the technical side of things to see what can be done with that.
Connect with us on social media:
Canada Council for the Arts
Instagram - instagram.com/canada.council
Facebook - facebook.com/canadacouncil
Twitter - twitter.com/CanadaCouncil
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canada-council-for-the-arts
Website - canadacouncil.ca
Art Bank
Instagram - instagram.com/artbank_banquedart
Facebook - facebook.com/CCartbank
YouTube - youtube.com/watch?v=x9fGIx7hZYk
Website - artbank.ca
CCUNESCO - Canadian Commission for UNESCO
Instagram - instagram.com/ccunesco
Twitter - twitter.com/CCUNESCO
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canadian-commission-for-unesco
Website - en.ccunesco.ca
Please like this video and subscribe to support the arts in Canada.
Luc Courchesne is a 2021 winner of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. Directed by Patrick Péris.
A co-production of the Canada Council for the Arts and Toribou Productions. A presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance.
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm's-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 (Canada Council for the Arts Act) "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."
For more information, visit: en.ggarts.ca
****
Transcript:
I think the artist’s role has not changed very much throughout the history of art. Our mission is to understand the world we live in and, if we find something, to share it using the tools we have.
I always thought that a work of art is simply a moment in a very, very long process.
I see it as a process. In other words, today, before you got here, I was working on something and, when you leave, I will work on something else.
At some point, you will have a public rendezvous. Your film will be ready. It will be seen by someone, or my next project will be presented or exhibited.
So those are moments, but the process itself is in fact fairly uninterrupted.
Because often, the next project will be inspired by what you didn’t like in the previous one.
You say to yourself, “Oh, I wanted to do this, but it didn’t work. I’ll try again in the next project.”
At the beginning, technological art was very technological—it had very little to do with art and a lot to do with technology.
Towards the end, when we had successfully mastered the medium, we could make art that was secondarily technological.
But we were making art and that was the whole point. We don’t want to be technology artists; we want to be artists.
Technology is simply what dates the work. The work done in the 1990s is dated by the technology we were using at the time.
But the artistic quest in itself is the same in all of human history.
I don’t believe in it. There is a lot of talk about augmented reality and virtual reality, but reality is what you experience. There is only one reality. And it is augmented by experiences.
Being immersed in a space that is not visible to the naked eye but that lets us understand the infinitely small or infinitely large, or our place in the universe, or our place in the world, or our impact on ecosystems can enable us to live more environmentally responsible lives.
Art must take on the complex challenges involved in the shift towards digital technology critically.
That is, we are not going to do what the industry asks us to do, or what the devices are made for.
We’re going to hijack them. We’re going to do something with them. Just to learn how this world where we mix atoms and bits, or technology and the analogue, the physical and the virtual... how to integrate that so that it’s fluid and it’s made for us humans.
It’s not over until it’s over, as we say, and I continue to be challenged and excited by the technical side of things to see what can be done with that.
Connect with us on social media:
Canada Council for the Arts
Instagram - instagram.com/canada.council
Facebook - facebook.com/canadacouncil
Twitter - twitter.com/CanadaCouncil
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canada-council-for-the-arts
Website - canadacouncil.ca
Art Bank
Instagram - instagram.com/artbank_banquedart
Facebook - facebook.com/CCartbank
YouTube - youtube.com/watch?v=x9fGIx7hZYk
Website - artbank.ca
CCUNESCO - Canadian Commission for UNESCO
Instagram - instagram.com/ccunesco
Twitter - twitter.com/CCUNESCO
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canadian-commission-for-unesco
Website - en.ccunesco.ca
