Rosalie D. Gagné has been active in the field of visual arts since the early 2000s. She began integrating digital media into her work in 2007, after serving as a research assistant at the Hexagram Institute during her master’s studies at Concordia University in Montreal.
Her practice is rooted in the phenomenology of matter and perception. Drawn to the creation of sensory and perceptual experiences, she produces immersive sculptural installations and designs responsive environments. Her work reflects on the relationship between macrocosm and microcosms, as well as the tensions and affinities between nature and technology.
Gagné defines her artistic approach by establishing a set of parameters with which she engages over a sustained period—setting the rules of a game not unlike the empirical method.
For more than five years, her work involved a combination of everyday objects, metal structures, and blown glass vessels containing aqueous solutions, aquatic plants, and other life forms—evoking the instruments of a fictional laboratory.
The artist’s recent projects are loosely inspired by reactive architecture, a movement exploring dynamic interactions between natural and artificial systems. One of the guiding frameworks for creating such responsive environments is biomimicry—the digital simulation of the functions, behaviors, and struggles of living organisms. These works seek to evoke not only the movement of life, but also its ability to adapt and be transformed by its surroundings. At the heart of this inquiry—nourished by both anxiety and hope—lies a utopian vision of potential harmony between artificial systems and natural processes.
Rosalie D. Gagné’s work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Europe. She lives in Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal, where she divides her time between her artistic practice and teaching visual arts.