Luc Courchesne
Luc Courchesne (1952) is a Canadian artist and academic known for his work in interactive art. Life. Luc Courchesne was born May 20, 1952, in Saint-Léonard-d'Aston, Quebec. He received a bachelor's degree in design from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1974. In the 1980s, he received a Master of Science degree in visual studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Courschene was a member of the MIT Media Lab at its inception in 1985. Courschene was a professor of industrial design at the Université de Montréal. Work. Courschene is known for  his interactive video installations and environments. In his early works such as "Family Portrait" and "Portrait One" (1989), the viewer interacts with the a human image programmed to engage in a lifelike conversation with the viewer. His later work "Landscape One" (1997) surrounds the viewer with a 360 degree immersive and interactive video projection of a park. On September 11, 2001, while he was on assignment in New York City for the "Québec–NewYork" cultural event, Mr. Courchesne happened to be videotaping the smoldering North Tower of the World Trade Center as the second plane hit the South Tower. The  23-minute video of his experience on that fateful day is available on CBC/Radio-Canada archives . Collections. Courchesne's work is included in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Awards. In 1997, his installation "Paysage no. 1" won the Grand Prize of the first biennale of the NTT InterCommunication Center in Tokyo. In 1999 Courschene received an honorary mention in the category of "Interactive Art" of the Prix Ars Electronica in Linz.