Hours of operation

Mathieu Briand

Mathieu Briand, 6.43, 2013, Glow, Los Angeles. Courtesy of the artist and Murray White Room, Melbourne.

We spoke with Gertrude Studio Artist Mathieu Briand about his practice and upcoming studio tenancy at Gertrude. 

March, 2017

By Laura De Neefe

Briand’s work is situated somewhere between perceptive reality and a displacement of the imagination. Briand creates projects in the same way as a filmmaker creates films. This approach to his practice allows him to use a multitude of available mediums across installation and performance and audience participation. He uses different mediums to destabilise and manipulate the audience experience of space and time.

His work has been exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally, including at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon; REDCAT, Los Angeles;
Tate Modern, London; Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne; ACMI, Melbourne; Murray White Room, Melbourne; Spring 1883 Melbourne and Sydney; Arndt, Singapore; Carriageworks, Sydney and MONA, Hobart.

He received the first prize of the Biennale of Istanbul in 2001. He has created a number of permanent installations including Eternal Garden, Back to Zhong Guo, Fools Move Mountains, Nanling, China (2005), and SYS*017.ReR*06/PiG-EqN\15*25, 21st Century Contemporary Art Museum, Kanazawa, Japan (2004).

Mathieu Briand is represented by Murray White Room, Melbourne.

Laura De Neefe: You are joining the Gertrude studio program at a particularly interesting time. In 2017 you have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the historic 200 Gertrude Street building before moving to a freshly architecturally-designed space at our new location. What are you most looking forward to as an incoming Gertrude studio artist?
 
Mathieu Briand: Gertrude is a new step for me — after eight years working on one project and two years managing exhibitions between Paris and Hobart, it is time to go back into the studio and focus on creativity and a new project. It will be the first time that I will create a new project solely in Australia, where I have lived for three years now. So it is fantastic that this coincides with a new page in Gertrude's history and I hope to be able to share as much as possible from my own experience to make this new page a success.
 
LDN: Your practice incorporates various new and transformed technologies including robotics, computers and interactive systems. What is the role of new technology in contemporary art and what freedoms and/or limitations are you attracted to when utilising different technologies in your works?
 
MB: Not everything is art but anything can be a tool for art, technology included. Just think about painting before and after the invention of paint in a tube. The painting is not better but it permitted the painter to leave the studio and therefore impacted on the painting techniques to follow. Now the painter can paint with an iPad, so this helps painting to continue to evolve again and expand outside its traditional zone.

The freedom or limitation doesn’t come from the technology, but from the knowledge. So I work with people who have knowledge about technology. I work like a filmmaker. I imagine something and then I try to find the way to make it exist.

LDN: Your work is often underpinned by a drive to evoke a reaction from the viewer, either as an observer or a participant. Tell us about your relationship with the audience and how this forms a part of your practice.
 
MB: I am very grateful to the society I live in that I have the opportunity to do my artwork. So one of my great responsibilities is to give it back. In my process the public is in the centre of the work, not in front. What is important is what you experience not only as a spectator, but also as an actor. It is not a ‘work of art’ but ‘art at work’.

LDN: What project are you currently working on?
 
MB: I am working on a project based on the ‘uncanny valley’ concept. It is about androids and virtual reality or alternate reality...
 
LDN: What are you reading at the moment?
 
MB: I am currently reading René Girard’s The Origins of Culture. I love this French philosopher and anthropologist, who sadly died last year.
 
LDN: Tell us about an exhibition or work you saw recently that has stuck with you.

MB: 
AUTOMATON by Sandra Parker and Rhian Hinkley at Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne.
 
I really liked this show/performance. For its simplicity and efficiency. It is always a challenge to do a performance in a gallery. Just as it is a challenge to do a show with kinetic or robotic sculptures. In this case, they worked together in perfect harmony and I found it to be a very successful experience for the spectator. Human movement and the movements of the machines were combined in a very interesting way.

I also really enjoyed the 
David Hockney exhibition at NGV (David Hockney: Current) because his answer to your second question is brilliant. Fresh art with a fresh tool by a fresh mind. So optimistic, so inspiring.

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Wurundjeri Country
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