Annie Briard
b. in Montreal, Quebec. lives and works in Vancouver, BC.
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Annie Briard is a Canadian artist whose work challenges visual perception. Through video, expanded photography and installation, she explores the intersections between perception paradigms in psychology, neuroscience and existentialism. Her inspiration is drawn from strange encounters with the visible and a desire to survey these with others.
Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions across Canada, notably at Back Gallery Project and VIVO (Vancouver), Joyce Yahouda Gallery (Montreal), La maison des artistes visuels (Winnipeg), and Center 3 (Hamilton) as well as featuring in numerous group shows. Recent inclusions cover Access Gallery, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Capture Photography Festival (Vancouver), Art Souterrain (Montreal), The Rooms (St-John's), Three Shadows Photography Centre (Beijing). She has also participated in international festivals, fairs and screenings at the Lincoln Film Centre New York, Filmambiante Int'l Film Festival (Rio de Janeiro), Matadero Madrid, and the Switzerland Architecture Museum, among others. Her practice has been awarded funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Art Council, and several publications have discussed her recent work, found in the pages of Espace Art Actuel and on the cover of Liaison magazine.
She holds a BFA from Concordia University, and a Master's from Emily Carr University, where she currently teaches and manages the visiting artist program.
download cv
Annie Briard is a Canadian artist whose work challenges visual perception. Through video, expanded photography and installation, she explores the intersections between perception paradigms in psychology, neuroscience and existentialism. Her inspiration is drawn from strange encounters with the visible and a desire to survey these with others.
Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions across Canada, notably at Back Gallery Project and VIVO (Vancouver), Joyce Yahouda Gallery (Montreal), La maison des artistes visuels (Winnipeg), and Center 3 (Hamilton) as well as featuring in numerous group shows. Recent inclusions cover Access Gallery, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Capture Photography Festival (Vancouver), Art Souterrain (Montreal), The Rooms (St-John's), Three Shadows Photography Centre (Beijing). She has also participated in international festivals, fairs and screenings at the Lincoln Film Centre New York, Filmambiante Int'l Film Festival (Rio de Janeiro), Matadero Madrid, and the Switzerland Architecture Museum, among others. Her practice has been awarded funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Art Council, and several publications have discussed her recent work, found in the pages of Espace Art Actuel and on the cover of Liaison magazine.
She holds a BFA from Concordia University, and a Master's from Emily Carr University, where she currently teaches and manages the visiting artist program.
Exhibitions @ Back Gallery Project
Annie Briard | Paracosmic Sun (2017)
So long as there have been human beings, there has been an implicit link between a person’s place in the world and her ability to see. More than the other senses combined, we rely on vision to situate ourselves in our society and environment. “Soon after we can see,” wrote the recently departed John Berger in his classic Ways of Seeing, “we are aware that we can also be seen. The eye of the other combines with our own eye to make it fully credible that we are part of the visible world.”
For some years, Vancouver artist Annie Briard has made it her business to examine light, sight and the act of looking. Many of Briard’s works--including the images in this exhibition, Paracosmic Sun--have taken as their starting point the various turns our understanding of these phenomena has taken over the history of science.
In an earlier light-box drawing titled Lighted (2016), for example, Briard imagined the act of seeing as a diagram using early modern (1500s–1700s) scientific drawing conventions. The diagram depicted extramission, a theory according to which vision occurs because our eyes emit rays of light or “fire.” Today this theory seems absurd, if poetic; yet in its day it boasted heavyweight advocates (Plato, Euclid, Ptolemy) and persisted even into the modern era.1
Paracosmic Sun blends science history with psychology. Paracosms are complex imaginary worlds, usually created in childhood but sometimes sufficiently compelling and detailed to persist into adulthood. In children, paracosms are often seen as attempts to create agency and thus as signs of high intelligence or creativity.
Briard developed the project during a 2016 residency in Cadiz, Spain, taking photographs from the city’s many strategic watchtowers. Cadiz has long been well known for its watchtowers: in the 1800s, it had 160 such towers; today, 126 remain. From these vantage points, Briard photographed the city’s surroundings using prisms and handmade lenses fashioned from the disused optical components of military materiel (gun sights).
Each resulting image, still or moving, thus mimics the notion of crystalline vision, partially deconstructed and reconstructed according to the colours of the visual light spectrum, the building blocks of our visual perception. Here, Briard draws from another obsolete theory of vision, which has it that the eye contains a small crystal that carefully shapes or prepares external light for us, mediating and representing the world around us so that we may understand it. Like extramission, this crystal theory seems both beautiful and absurd today. (Or maybe not so absurd: research has shown, after all, that the eyes of flies grow in a manner that mimics crystal formation!)
Briard’s photographs seem as though they could be digital errors, with recognizable natural and architectural features (palms, balustrades, clouds, high-rises, a seawall) bumping up against sunbursts, geometrical shapes and swooshes or scribbles of bold colours. The images are paracosmic, suggesting an extended world of daydream. The purpose of the watchtower—that is, to tilt Berger’s sight-lines binary, above, in favour of the self at the expense of the other--is toppled, as the visual data becomes confusing, inviting questions as to what is and isn’t reality. The viewer finds himself in the impossible condition of a daydreamer who seeks to differentiate real worlds from paracosmic ones.
In certain respects, the crystal theory isn’t so implausible. Certain readers may recall that standard of high-school biology class, the cow’s-eye dissection. The operation’s highlight--popping out the lens, resting it on a textbook page and observing the magnified text--invites a key insight, namely that in humans, as in animals, flesh and information are indivisibly linked. Separated from moisture and refrigeration, the bovine lens becomes desiccated and loses its ability to mediate sensory information. The eye is indeed a little crystal, but an entirely fleshy one, which, by virtue of its intractable link to the greater organism, shares the latter’s limitations, including the will to dream during the daytime.
-- Exhibition text by Edwin Janzen
So long as there have been human beings, there has been an implicit link between a person’s place in the world and her ability to see. More than the other senses combined, we rely on vision to situate ourselves in our society and environment. “Soon after we can see,” wrote the recently departed John Berger in his classic Ways of Seeing, “we are aware that we can also be seen. The eye of the other combines with our own eye to make it fully credible that we are part of the visible world.”
For some years, Vancouver artist Annie Briard has made it her business to examine light, sight and the act of looking. Many of Briard’s works--including the images in this exhibition, Paracosmic Sun--have taken as their starting point the various turns our understanding of these phenomena has taken over the history of science.
In an earlier light-box drawing titled Lighted (2016), for example, Briard imagined the act of seeing as a diagram using early modern (1500s–1700s) scientific drawing conventions. The diagram depicted extramission, a theory according to which vision occurs because our eyes emit rays of light or “fire.” Today this theory seems absurd, if poetic; yet in its day it boasted heavyweight advocates (Plato, Euclid, Ptolemy) and persisted even into the modern era.1
Paracosmic Sun blends science history with psychology. Paracosms are complex imaginary worlds, usually created in childhood but sometimes sufficiently compelling and detailed to persist into adulthood. In children, paracosms are often seen as attempts to create agency and thus as signs of high intelligence or creativity.
Briard developed the project during a 2016 residency in Cadiz, Spain, taking photographs from the city’s many strategic watchtowers. Cadiz has long been well known for its watchtowers: in the 1800s, it had 160 such towers; today, 126 remain. From these vantage points, Briard photographed the city’s surroundings using prisms and handmade lenses fashioned from the disused optical components of military materiel (gun sights).
Each resulting image, still or moving, thus mimics the notion of crystalline vision, partially deconstructed and reconstructed according to the colours of the visual light spectrum, the building blocks of our visual perception. Here, Briard draws from another obsolete theory of vision, which has it that the eye contains a small crystal that carefully shapes or prepares external light for us, mediating and representing the world around us so that we may understand it. Like extramission, this crystal theory seems both beautiful and absurd today. (Or maybe not so absurd: research has shown, after all, that the eyes of flies grow in a manner that mimics crystal formation!)
Briard’s photographs seem as though they could be digital errors, with recognizable natural and architectural features (palms, balustrades, clouds, high-rises, a seawall) bumping up against sunbursts, geometrical shapes and swooshes or scribbles of bold colours. The images are paracosmic, suggesting an extended world of daydream. The purpose of the watchtower—that is, to tilt Berger’s sight-lines binary, above, in favour of the self at the expense of the other--is toppled, as the visual data becomes confusing, inviting questions as to what is and isn’t reality. The viewer finds himself in the impossible condition of a daydreamer who seeks to differentiate real worlds from paracosmic ones.
In certain respects, the crystal theory isn’t so implausible. Certain readers may recall that standard of high-school biology class, the cow’s-eye dissection. The operation’s highlight--popping out the lens, resting it on a textbook page and observing the magnified text--invites a key insight, namely that in humans, as in animals, flesh and information are indivisibly linked. Separated from moisture and refrigeration, the bovine lens becomes desiccated and loses its ability to mediate sensory information. The eye is indeed a little crystal, but an entirely fleshy one, which, by virtue of its intractable link to the greater organism, shares the latter’s limitations, including the will to dream during the daytime.
-- Exhibition text by Edwin Janzen
The Constructions Series
Re-envisioning vision. Exploring the boundaries between the physical and the imagined, the perceived, and the misperceived. Constructions uses landscapes as structures through which to investigate and pull apart these territories of sight. What we see is constantly in transformation. The scene before us changes with the faded recollection of what was experienced seconds ago. Beyond how the mind transforms what is understood as actual, the body itself manipulates sight. Vision can only reveal what has already been. Blind spots speckle our field of view and afterimages happen every split second but we cancel them out. What else is hidden?
I create these stereoscopic photographs from backpacking trips to investigate our inability to accurately grasp the world. These images confront us with paradoxical vision. First, there is the flat, colorful image of a wondrous place. Then, with glasses on, there is red, or blue, if one eye is shut. The combined 3D image shows a fourth perspective where the scene’s planes appear to jut outwards or recede behind the photographic surface. There are others if we focus on the geometric symbols pointing to where the construct breaks down. How can one image be perceived in all these ways?
Through this series, I explore what drives me ever onwards: how does what I see compare to what you see? How much does vision make our worlds stray from each other’s? Why is the seen prioritized over the daydreamed, the imagined, when sometimes they can be so alike?
Re-envisioning vision. Exploring the boundaries between the physical and the imagined, the perceived, and the misperceived. Constructions uses landscapes as structures through which to investigate and pull apart these territories of sight. What we see is constantly in transformation. The scene before us changes with the faded recollection of what was experienced seconds ago. Beyond how the mind transforms what is understood as actual, the body itself manipulates sight. Vision can only reveal what has already been. Blind spots speckle our field of view and afterimages happen every split second but we cancel them out. What else is hidden?
I create these stereoscopic photographs from backpacking trips to investigate our inability to accurately grasp the world. These images confront us with paradoxical vision. First, there is the flat, colorful image of a wondrous place. Then, with glasses on, there is red, or blue, if one eye is shut. The combined 3D image shows a fourth perspective where the scene’s planes appear to jut outwards or recede behind the photographic surface. There are others if we focus on the geometric symbols pointing to where the construct breaks down. How can one image be perceived in all these ways?
Through this series, I explore what drives me ever onwards: how does what I see compare to what you see? How much does vision make our worlds stray from each other’s? Why is the seen prioritized over the daydreamed, the imagined, when sometimes they can be so alike?
Annie Briard | Wanderings (2013)
Standing isolated in a forest full of towering trees with tiny agile creatures scurrying between your feet, suddenly you happen upon another face. Wanderings is an exploration of the embodiment of perception, reality, time and place.
Focusing on our environmental relationships, Annie Briard produces open-ended fables within fantastical universes as personal experiences for the viewer. Her works are created through diverse media but focus on utilizing the moving image as a means to blur the distinction between reality and perception.
Wanderings marks Briard's first solo exhibition of work in Vancouver. Featured within the exhibition is her interactive stop-motion animation, The Woods (2012), a work that affords you the chance to speak with it only as much as it speaks back at you. In ‘choose your own adventure’ style, viewers communicate with the main character Cecilia, through text messages and movement, prompting different surrealist inspired fable-like narrative moments and actions. Through its playfulness and unique aesthetic, the work questions the limits between dream and reality, human made worlds and nature, and structures of communication and domination. The Woods will subsequently be touring across Canada at Centre 3 (Hamilton), Joyce Yahouda Gallery (Montreal), and VIVO Media Arts Centre (Vancouver).
View interaction documentation: http://vimeo.com/51083771
Annie Briard has exhibited across Canada and internationally, at Articule, Studio XX, Joyce Yahouda Gallery, HTMlles media arts biennale and the Art Souterrain Festival in Montreal; The Rooms Gallery (St John's) the NFB mediatheque (Toronto), the White Rabbit Arts Festival, (Halifax), G++ Gallery (Victoria), the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Beijing, China), eMerge Media Space (Townsville, Australia) and the Swiss Architecture Museum (Basel, Switzerland), amongst others. Her work was featured in a two year, 10-city tour of China for the Canadian Cameras at Work showcase in 2009-2011. In 2011, Joyce Yahouda Gallery presented “The Space in Between”, a solo show of her interdisciplinary work. In 2012, Briard undertook an artist residency at the Banff Centre and represented Canada at World Event Young Artists symposium in Nottingham, England in fall 2012.
http://vandocument.com/2013/08/annie-briard-wanderings-black-and-yellow/
Standing isolated in a forest full of towering trees with tiny agile creatures scurrying between your feet, suddenly you happen upon another face. Wanderings is an exploration of the embodiment of perception, reality, time and place.
Focusing on our environmental relationships, Annie Briard produces open-ended fables within fantastical universes as personal experiences for the viewer. Her works are created through diverse media but focus on utilizing the moving image as a means to blur the distinction between reality and perception.
Wanderings marks Briard's first solo exhibition of work in Vancouver. Featured within the exhibition is her interactive stop-motion animation, The Woods (2012), a work that affords you the chance to speak with it only as much as it speaks back at you. In ‘choose your own adventure’ style, viewers communicate with the main character Cecilia, through text messages and movement, prompting different surrealist inspired fable-like narrative moments and actions. Through its playfulness and unique aesthetic, the work questions the limits between dream and reality, human made worlds and nature, and structures of communication and domination. The Woods will subsequently be touring across Canada at Centre 3 (Hamilton), Joyce Yahouda Gallery (Montreal), and VIVO Media Arts Centre (Vancouver).
View interaction documentation: http://vimeo.com/51083771
Annie Briard has exhibited across Canada and internationally, at Articule, Studio XX, Joyce Yahouda Gallery, HTMlles media arts biennale and the Art Souterrain Festival in Montreal; The Rooms Gallery (St John's) the NFB mediatheque (Toronto), the White Rabbit Arts Festival, (Halifax), G++ Gallery (Victoria), the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Beijing, China), eMerge Media Space (Townsville, Australia) and the Swiss Architecture Museum (Basel, Switzerland), amongst others. Her work was featured in a two year, 10-city tour of China for the Canadian Cameras at Work showcase in 2009-2011. In 2011, Joyce Yahouda Gallery presented “The Space in Between”, a solo show of her interdisciplinary work. In 2012, Briard undertook an artist residency at the Banff Centre and represented Canada at World Event Young Artists symposium in Nottingham, England in fall 2012.
http://vandocument.com/2013/08/annie-briard-wanderings-black-and-yellow/
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News
Lindsay-Anne Prevost, "L'illusion d'optique s'expose", journal Pamplemousse, February 24 2017. Emmanuel Delacour, "Une exposition qui fait douter du reel", journal metro, February 22, 2017. Sunshine Frere, Paracosmic Sun, Vancouver Is Awesome, February 22 2017. Jill Blackmore Evans, The Kaleidoscopic Visions of Annie Briard’s ‘Paracosms’, Format Magazine, February 13 2017. Edwin Janzen, "Staring at Sun", Espace art actuel magazine, no. 114, Fall 2016. p. 98-99. Valérie Mandia, "Voir avec les yeux fermés: Vision Trouble d'Annie Briard", revue Liaison, no. 173 Automne 2016, p. 25-28. Kevin Griffin "Art Seen: Artists Talk is a practical, informative and well written guide for emerging artists", Vancouver Sun, July 2016. Steven Leyden Cochrane "Persistent Visions", review of "Vision Trouble" at La maison des artistes visuels, Winnipeg Free Press, May 2016. In Situ. Animé par Chantal L'heureux, entrevue avec Annie Briard. CIBL Radio101,5, Montreal, 16 Feb. 2014. Hailey McCloskey, "Annie Briard’s Cyber Claymation Doll in “The Woods,” Vandocument, February 9, 2014. Punctum arts visuels revue web, "Portefolio d'artiste: Annie Briard", August 22, 2013. Vandocument, "Annie Briard @ Black & Yellow", August 8, 2013. The Vancouver Sun, "Art this week: Paradise Lost and Annie Briard", July 23, 2013. The Globe and Mail, "Telling Stories out of School", May 29, 2013. Amy Fung, "The show", Post Pacific Post, May 15, 2013. Nicolas Mavrikakis, “Art Souterrain”, Voir, Feb. 28, 2011. Les Rendez-vous d’ARTV, “Art Contemporain : Annie Briard”, ARTV, March 2011. CISM, Un Show de Motarts, entrevue avec Annie Briard, March 2, 2011. District Montréal, La Nuit Blanche à Montréal : Annie Briard, Feb. 26, 2011. In Situ. Animé par Chantal L'heureux, invitées spéciales Annie Briard, Marie-Christiane Mathieu, Nelly-Ève Rajotte. CIBL Radio101,5, Montreal, 2 Feb. 2011. Stacey DeWolfe, "In Montreal : Annie Briard at Joyce Yahouda." Akimblog, 1 Feb. 2011. Jocelyne Lepage, "Galerie Joyce Yahouda: grâce et ingéniosité." La Presse, 29 Jan. 2011. Amanda Dafniotis, "Annie Briard finds the space in between at Joyce Yahouda Gallery." The Concordian, 18 Jan. 2011. Un Show de Motarts, “La rentrée hivernale II.” Animé par Éloi Desjardins, invité spécial Éric Bolduc. CISM Radio, Montréal, 18 Jan. 2011. Stacey Dewolfe, "On Display", The Montreal Mirror, January 13, 2011. Robyn Fadden, "Lady arts", The Hour, January 13, 2011. XX Files, host Valerie Walker, special guest Annie Briard. CKUT Radio, Montreal, 12 Jan. 2011. |