Olivier Bémer

Infos

is a visual artist based in Paris.
His installations explores our relationship to technology as a mean of representation, and depict an adulterated reality in which archetypes simulate but fail to represent.

  • Je deviens
  • Pile je gagne, Face tu perds
  • Le Chemin du Parc
  • Les Indésirables
  • Mug Phenomena
  • Noon
  • FOMO
  • 10:10
  • 10¢ collective attempts
  • Playtime (suggested title)
  • Caption Art Bot
  • Alice & John
  • What's left to be seen
Je deviens (I become) is an ongoing collection of hundreds of video titles found on social networks containing the two words I and become
 
Installation LED panel, script python, variable dimensions
 
2023Host, Nantes, France

Je deviens, 2023

  • Host, Voyage à Nantes, France
    • ↓
    Installation       Vidéo HD, 1’43’’ loop, two laptop computers
     
    2023Host, Nantes, France

    Pile je gagne, Face tu perds, 2023

  • Host, Voyage à Nantes, France
    • ↓
    During a virtual walk using Google Street View, the children explore their neighborhood, revealing the limits of this technology.
    Careful observation gives rise to stories, so much so that they too end up in the field of the image. Equipped with a 360° camera, they take to the stage to explore the possibilities of this instrument of vision and thwart reality.
     
    Film Vidéo HD, 5’58’’ 360° shots, screen recording

    Film directed with children from Julien Lacroix school, Paris 20.
    Produced as part of the Regards Croisés educational program.
     
    Production Le Bal – La Fabrique du Regard
     
    2023Festival La Fabrique du Regard, Le Bal, Paris

    Le Chemin du Parc, 2023

    ↓
    You can find online several lists of words or expressions to avoid in emails or your message could end up in the spam box.
    This installation present a printer that spill out every 10 minutes a random haiku using a compilation of these blacklist. A simple program choose 3 lines and then compose a short poem. The printed poems then accumlates on the exhibition floor.

    The program runs online here.
     
    Installation Laser printer, A4 paper, Javascript
     
    2023Art au centre, Liège, Belgique

    Les Indésirables, 2023

  • Art au centre, Liège, Belgique
    • ↓
    A first mug is scanned in three dimensions in order to make a digital copy which will then be printed in 3D. Like photocopies, this operation is thus repeated until the original shape is exhausted. A sort of reversed archaeology in which the digital iteration degrades its subject as much as it declines it.

    The physical copies are then presented as sculptures along with an animated video made with the digital copies. Talking characters are placed on the mugs, trying to convince that their mug is more valuable than the previous one. Each reproduction seeks to individualize itself artificially as the form loses the link to its utility.
     
    Film HD video, 12’02’’, 16:9, ST, 3D animation, fiverr.com
     
    Installation 3D printing, PLA, 65’’ monitor
     
    2023
  • Host, Voyage à Nantes, France
    		•
     
    2022Jeune Création, Fondation Fiminco, Pantin, 2022

    Mug Phenomena, 2022

  • Host, Voyage à Nantes, France
  • Jeune Création, Fondation Fiminco, Pantin, 2022
    • ↓
    In a room of fictions we are welcomed by a man without a past. As he passes through gradients of artificial light, our avatar discovers his shadow. When the symmetry breaks, a grayscale duel ensues, where rationality overexposes while fear darkens.

    In NOON, shadow and light assume an allegorical form. An obsessive desire to eliminate shadows in favor of light reflects the mirage of progress through technology; rationalizing one's environment by erasing any trace of doubt and indeterminacy. This sequence shot in first person view plunges us into a technological timeline in which our avatar sees his identity slipping away from him as he tries to illuminate its various representations.
     
    Film HD, 15’00'', 4:3, Binaural Mix, Blender 3D
     
    Installation Plexiglas screen, 165x124cm, Ropes, knots
     
    Production Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains
     
    Team Tutor
    3D Supervisor
    Sound Design
    Sound Editor
    Foley Artist
    Recordings
    Mix
    Color Grading
    Graphic Design    		 Emanuele Coccia
    Thomas Léon
    Pablo Altar
    Valentine Gellin
    Christophe Burdet
    Martin Dezelcaux
    Geoffrey Durcak
    Baptiste Évrard
    Thomas Petit
     
    2022 Annecy Festival International du film d’animation
    PIAFF, Paris, France
    Athens Digital Arts Festival
     
    2021 Panorama 23, Par le rêve, Le Fresnoy
    Curated by Olivier Kappelin

    Noon, 2021

  • Panorama 23, Par le rêve, Le Fresnoy
    • ↓
    "On January 31st, there will be 7 days left to see the exhibition. On February 1st, there will be 6 days left to see the exhibition. On February 2nd, there will be 5 days left to see the exhibition. On February 3rd, there will be 4 days left to see the exhibition. On February 4th, there will be 3 days left to see the exhibition. On February 5th, there will be 2 days left to see the exhibition. On February 6th, there will be 1 days left to see the exhibition."
     
    Installation Androids Phones, Flexible supports, Php code, Twitter API
     
    Php coding Olivier J.
     
    2021 Galerie Grand-Verre, curated by Yue Yuan

    FOMO, 2021

  • Galerie Grand-Verre, curated by Yue Yuan
    • ↓
    It's ten past ten and time stands still on the watches in advertisements. A brand logo proudly appears in the center of the V formed by the two hands. The consensus hour.
    Here time drags on and then starts again. A succession of extraordinarily vain events is in progress. The protagonists don’t worry too much, the path seems to be clearly indicated. Their gestures slide and repeat across the surface of the screen. The set takes some initiatives but no one really pays any attention. So the story has many false starts, nothing happens and the real stutters and stammers. The vessels overflow but no longer communicate.
     
    Film Film 4K, 19’00'', 16:9, Sound Digital 5.1
     
    Installation 65inch TV, Swiss Balls, Audio Headphones
     
    Co-production Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains
    Les Amis des Beaux-Arts de Paris
     
    Team Dancers




    DOP
    Sound
    Mix    		 Anais Barras
    Daniel Galicia
    Tilhenn Klapper
    Sehyoung Lee
    Félix Touzalin
    Balthazar Lab
    Valentine Gellin
    Geoffrey Durcak
     
    2021 100%, La Villette, Paris
     
    2020 Panorama 22, Les Sentinelles, Le Fresnoy
    Curated by Louise Déry

    10:10, 2020

  • Panorama 22, Les Sentinelles, Le Fresnoy
    • ↓
    10¢ collective attempts is a sound installation simulating randomly and continuously 3 sound-interactions normally coming from a group of people. Laughter, applause, and a mantra.Each interaction is made up of 100 recordings made by 100 different individuals, paid $0.10 on the Amazon Mechanical Turk website, a platform launched by amazon.com in 2005 to hire remotely located "crowdworkers" to perform discrete on-demand tasks that computers are currently unable to do.The recordings are then broadcast simultaneously but randomly to simulate a group recording. A diffusion which by its cohabitation of different rhythms and sound textures testifies to a break-up of the participants, and the impossibility of gathering.A report of each financial transaction is displayed on a A4 laser-printed piece of paper, hanged on a clipboard below each speaker.

    Watch a video example here.
    Listen to audio samples here.
     
    Installation Sound Installation, ∞ loop, Raspberry Pi, Python Coding, laser prints, plexiglas supports
     
    2022 Voci Umane, Tender Fluid, Village Reille, Paris
     
    2019 L’Effet Falaise, Prix Emerige, Paris
    Curated by Gaël Charbau
    Felicità, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris

    10¢ collective attempts, 2019

  • L’Effet Falaise, Prix Emerige, Paris
  • Voci Umane, Tender Fluid, Village Reille, Paris
  • Felicità, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris
    • ↓
    John asks George and George answers him. From suggestions to suggestions John enters a virtuous marketing circle. A story without an end.
    This scenario was based on real patents for new techniques and advertising technologies to aim and target consumers more precisely, that you can find online. A selection of diagrams extracted from those patents are screen-printed on Ikea furnitures that are also present in the film. the Ikea tables are presented together with the film.
     
    Film HD, 11'28'', 16:9, ST, loop
     
    Installation Ikea Vittsjö tables, screenprinting
     
    Sound design Pablo Altar
     
    2020 Ingenious, Prix Siemens, Centre Pompidou
     
    2019 L’Effet Falaise, Prix Emerige, Paris
    Curated by Gaël Charbau

    Playtime (suggested title), 2019

  • L’Effet Falaise, Prix Emerige, Paris
    • Ingenious, Prix Siemens, Centre Pompidou
    ↓
    A work of Art was submited every day to Microsoft's artificial stupidity Caption Bot during the course of 2019. The results were published every day on Instagram. Complete collection here
     
    Installation Collection of 356 images, 1 image per day, Tablet, diaporama
     
    2019 30 ans pile!, Galerie Papillon, Paris

    Caption Art Bot, 2018

  • 30 ans pile!, Galerie Papillon, Paris
    • ↓
    Alice & John is a conversation between Alice, an Artificial intelligence to chat with people online, and John Lennon. The conversation is made of Alice's answers to each sentence of Lennon famous song; 'Imagine'. Then starts a dialogue of the deaf between an out of date anthem of hope, and the arrogants answers of a blond and anorexic chatbot, dancing on a smartphone displaying John Lennon and Yoko Ono's videoclip from 1971.
     
    Installation Film HD, 5’24'', 16:9, ST, Tablets, loop
     
    2023
  • Host, Voyage à Nantes, France
    		•
     
    2022 Ciné-Club Horizones, Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris
    La Croisière, Expositions des ateliers de Montreuil, Montreuil
     
    2021 Muses Algorithmiques, Le Granit, Belfort
    M'entendez-vous, Galerie Commune
     
    2019 L’Effet Falaise, Prix Emerige, Paris
    Curated by Gaël Charbau
    Finale, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris
    +333, Folle Béton, Paris
     
    2018 Chalon Tout Court, Festival de court-métrage, Chalon-sur-Saône
     
    2017 Le tout est toujours plus petit que ses parties, Béton Salon, Paris

    Alice & John, 2017

  • L’Effet Falaise, Prix Emerige, Paris
  • +333, Folle Béton, Paris
    • ↓
    Travel is the movement of people between relatively distant geographical locations, you may understand the word « distant » in a broader sense. It can be one way or a round trip, as long as you remember where you began. Travel can also include relatively short stays between successive movements. Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling any movement from one place to another. Navigation, in a broader sense, can refer to any skill or study that involves the determination of position and direction. wether it’s land navigation, marine navigation, aeronautic navigation, space navigation, or somewhere else. Time is exhausted, space is mapped, and we have the gift of ubiquity. Landscapes or wallpaper ? We are spectators of our own representations, we move from one paradox to another and we take pictures of other pictures. "in real life" is a vague idea. Representation and experience are two porous notions.
     
    Installation HD, 23'03'', 16:9, ST
     
    2020 DIAS kunsthal, Vallensbæk Station, Denmark
     
    2017 Les Yeux Ouverts, La générale Nord-Est, Paris
     
    2016 Fstvl Dcmtr, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris
    Bon Esprit, Nuit Blanche, La Rotonde, Paris

    What's left to be seen, 2016

    ↓
    ContactInstagram
    Education

    2019 - 2021   Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains
    2016 - 2018   Beaux-Arts de Paris, Master of fine arts with honors
    2010 - 2013   ECAL, Switzerland, Bachelor in Photography
    Residencies

    2024    Création en cours, Atelier Medicis
      Fonds de dotation Weiss, Paris
    2022    Villa Saint-Louis, Sénégal
    Distinctions

    2023    Grant from Création en cours, Atelier Medicis
      Prix De Pourquoy, Host, Nantes
    2022    Prix Orange Rouge, Festival Jeune création 72
    2021 Les Amis des Beaux Arts de Paris grant award
      Nomination, Prix ADAGP Arts Vidéo — Le Fresnoy
    2020 Finalist of the SIEMENS price for digital art
      Production grant, Les Amis des Beaux-Arts de Paris
    2019 Selection of Emerige Revelations 2019
    2018 Video prize - Félicita 19
    Film Festivals

    2023 PIAFF, Paris, France
    2022 Bogoshorts Festival, Bogotà, Colombie
      Annecy Festival International du film d’animation
      Athens Digital Arts Festival
    2020 Projection Grrranit, Belfort
    2018 Chalon Tout Court, Festival de court-métrage, Chalon-sur-Saône
      Binary Sunrise, Chapelle des Petits-Augustins
    2017 Les Yeux Ouverts, La générale Nord-Est, Paris
    2016 Fstvl Dcmtr, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris
      Bon Esprit, Nuit Blanche, La Rotonde, Paris
    2013    La Nuit des Images, Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, Suisse
    Performances

    2019    Omniprésent, Live 006, 104 Factory, le 104, Paris
    2018 Omniprésent, Live 005, Mirage Festival, Lyon
      Omniprésent, Live 004, Silicon Malley, Lausanne, Suisse
      Omniprésent, Live 003, Electrons Libres, Stereolux, Nantes
      Binary Sunrise, Chapelle des Petits-Augustins
    2017 Omniprésent, Live 002, Les Grands Voisins, Paris
      Omniprésent, Live 001, Les Petites Serres, Paris
    Publications

    Par le rêve..., Panorama 23, Le Fresnoy éditions 2021
    Les Sentinelles, Panorama 22, Le Fresnoy éditions 2020
    Felicità, Beaux-Arts de Paris éditions, 2019
    L’Effet Falaise, Emerige, 2019
    Finale, Beaux-Arts de Paris éditions, 2018
    Entwürfe #77, Agglo, 2014
    Round and Around, Aaluägä Books, 2013
    Ecal photography, Hatje Cantz, 2013
    Texts - Itw - Critics

    2023    Clare Mary Puyfoulhoux
    2022    Beaux Arts Magazine
      animacionparaadultos.es
      Fomo-Vox / 9–Lives
    2020 DIAS Kunsthal
    2019 Marion Zilio
    Exhibitions
    2023 Block Universe, Myce x Zora, Atelier Éphémère, Paris
      Host, Voyages à Nantes, Nantes
      Regards Croisés, Le Bal, Paris
      Art au centre, Liège, Belgique
      Interlacing, Galerie de Pourquoy, Nantes
     
    2022 Narrations des Ordinaires (3), Poush, Aubervilliers
      Ciné-Club Horizones, Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris
      Voci Umane, Tender Fluid, Village Reille, Paris
      Prix des Amis des Beaux-Arts, Chapelle des Petits-Augustins
      La Croisière, Expositions des ateliers de Montreuil, Montreuil
      Jeune Création 72, Fondation Fiminco, Romainville
     
    2021 Par le rève, Panorama 23, Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing
      100%, La Villette, Paris
      Muses Algorithmiques, Le Granit, Belfort
      FOMO, Galerie Grand Verre, Paris 3
      M'entendez-vous, Galerie Commune
     
    2020 Les Sentinelles, Panorama 22, Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing
      Ingenious, Prix Siemens, Centre Pompidou
      Benefit #2, Le Doc, Paris
      DIAS kunsthal, Vallensbæk Station, Denmark
      30 ans pile!, Galerie Papillon, Paris
     
    2019 l’Effet Falaise, Prix Emerige 2019, Voltaire, Paris
      Felicità, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris
      Labo_Demo#1/Stand, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris
      Finale, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris
      +333, Folle Béton, Paris
     
    2017 Prix suisse de musique : immersion, Centre culturel Suisse, Paris
      Le tout est toujours plus petit que ses parties, Béton Salon, Paris
     
    2015 ECAL Photography, Display Gallery, Londres
     
    2014 ECAL Photography, 10 Corso Como, Shanghai, Chine
      ECAL Photography, Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan
     
    2013 PhotoForum Pasquart, Bienne, Suisse
      ECAL Photography, Galerie Azzedine Alaïa, Paris
      Half-Time, Espace Lausannois d’Art Contemporain, Lausanne