Rosalie D. Gagné’s work is rooted in the phenomenology of matter and perception. In her propositions, she explores the relationships between microcosm and macrocosm, individual and collective dreams, as well as technology and nature. Active in the field of visual arts since the early 2000s, she began integrating digital elements into her work in 2007, after working as a research assistant at the Hexagram Institute during her master’s studies at Concordia University.
Gagné defines her approach to art by establishing a set of parameters with which she works for a certain period, resulting in a set of rules reminiscent of the empirical method. For over five years, her practice has involved working with a combination of everyday objects, metal structures, and blown glass vessels containing aqueous solutions, aquatic plants, and other lifeforms… Her more recent propositions draw inspiration from a current of architecture known as reactive architecture, which explores how natural and artificial systems interact. One model for the design and realization of such reactive environments is biomimicry, the digital simulation of the functions, behaviors, actions, and suffering of living beings.
Interested in creating sensory and perceptual experiences, the artist creates immersive sculptural installations and designs reactive environments. Here, she reflects on the relationships between microcosms and macrocosms, as well as a certain conception of individual and collective dreams, but above all, she illustrates the possible oppositions and connections between nature and technology. At the heart of this reflection, which is based on a combination of anxiety and hope, lies the utopia of harmonizing the artificial world with natural processes.
Having presented her work in Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the United States, Rosalie D. Gagné lives in Montreal and divides her time between teaching visual arts and her artistic practice.