Louis-philippe Demers

Biography

Louis-Philippe Demers combines several profiles: Artist, Freelance Designer, Professor, Researcher and Entrepreneur. He is a multidisciplinary artist using machines as media. He worked on the conception and production of several large-scale interactive robotic installations, so far realizing more than 225 machines. His robotics works could be found in theatre, opera, subway stations, art museums, science museums, music events and trade shows. As a freelance designer, he develops, conceives and realizes interactive systems. He participated in more than seventy artistic and stage productions while collaborating with recognised artists such as: Bill Vorn, Christian Möller, Stelarc, Robert Lepage, Peter Gabriel and Le Cirque du Soleil. His works have been primed with several prizes and featured at major international venues such as Lille 2004, Expo 92, Expo 2000, Sonambiente, ISEA, SIGGRAPH and Sonar. He received three Interactive Kunst prizes Ars Electronica (Distinction 96) and one honourable mention in digital musics in 2005. He received the first prize of artificial life Vida2.0 and the prize for Interactive Lighting at Lightforms 98. His latest work, Devolution, received six prizes in 2006 including the Ruby Innovation award in South Australia, Outstanding Performance from Australian Dance Awards and two Helpmann Awards, the Australian equivalent of the Broadway’s Tony. From 1994 to 1998, he was the president of Kunst Macchina Production Company; a group specialized in the commercialization and the R&D of software solutions for the entertainment. From 2001 to 2005, Demers was a Full Professor of Digital Media and Exhibit Design at the Hochschule fuer Gestaltung affiliated to the world renowned ZKM (Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medientechnologie). In late 2006, Demers joined NTU at the Interaction and Entertainment Research Centre. Since june 2008, Demers became the Associate Chair Research at the School of Art, Design and Media.

Research Interest

To investigate Design, Digital Media and Media Arts from the interactive and embodied media perspectives.