MARTIN MESSIER | BIOGRAPHY | ARTIST

A key figure on the Quebec and international art scenes, Martin Messier orchestrates a dialogue between sound, light and movement. His art of staging and his ability to combine technologies with natural elements (water, smoke, waves, electricity...) have led him to develop a body of work on our perception of physical phenomena. He explores their manifestations - from the most imperceptible to the most monumental - through extraordinary devices. His performances and installations oscillate between order and chaos, creating a contemplative tension that invites the audience into a synesthetic experience, sometimes close to the spiritual.

After exploring the musicality of everyday objects - from projectors (Projectors, 2014) to sewing machines in Sewing Machine Orchestra (2010) - Martin Messier has extended his research to abstract sound and visual textures. With Field (2015), the artist captures the omnipresent electromagnetic fields in the environment to create a work in which shadow play, light beams and sound compositions are enriched. In Echo Chamber (2020), he diverts scans from an ultrasound machine to create a score of electric arcs and luminous bodies. In 2023, Martin Messier created 1 drop 1000 years, a sensitive work in which each interaction is integrated into a poetic continuum. Water particles form a hypnotic visual and sonic ballet, conveying the fragility of ecosystems and the delicate harmony of all matter.

Each work is composed of tableaux in which the presence of the human body is central. Innervision (2019) brings together 60 dancers positioned in front of luminous, amplified tables. Their choreographed gestures, of extreme precision, tend to underline our connections to Nature and our relationship to interiority. Martin Messier remains the protagonist of all his performances. In Con Sordina (2021), for example, the artist, naked, invites us into the subconscious of a character and takes us on a journey through the multiple emotions that run through him. In his work, bodily limits are continually questioned: we no longer know whether the sound and visual devices are the symbolic prosthesis of the body in movement... or whether it's the other way round.

The artist's inventiveness is distinguished by the diversity of the devices he designs. His works take the form of astonishing machines, such as Machine_Variation (2014), or minimalist-looking structures like Cycles (2023). Some of his creations are more immaterial. In Elusive Matter (2021), wisps of smoke rise above viewers, blurring their spatial bearings with subtle light projections. Designed in his Montreal studio, these devices take on a life of their own, and are presented in the form of performances and installations.

His work is presented by international institutions dedicated to live performance and contemporary art, such as the Festival TransAmériques, Trafó Budapest, Arts Korea Lab Festival in Seoul and the Festival of contemporary arts in Prague. Martin Messier's award-winning works (Prix Ars Electronica, Japan Media Arts Awards, World OMOSIROI Award, etc.) have been programmed at major digital arts centers and festivals such as Mutek, Transmediale, Sonar and Nemo. The artist teams up with digital artists (Nicolas Bernier, Samuel St-Aubin...) and renowned dancers (Caroline Laurin-Beaucage, Anne Thériault...), and surrounds himself with talented creative technologists (Nathanaël Lécaudé, David Gardener...). 

“ This artist can transform ordinary objects and it’s the closest thing to real magic you’ll ever see. “

— Leah Collins, CBC

“ Messier's stage presence is mesmerizing; he communicates abstractly but directly with his audience, without artifice. “

— vanclassicalmusic.com

« Le jeune artiste montréalais est devenu l’une des références lorsqu’il s’agit de mettre en scène des oeuvres sonores. »

— Adrien Cornelissen, Culture des musiques digitales

«En acceptant la triple posture de concepteur sonore, scénographe et chorégraphe, Martin Messier fait dialoguer tous les éléments du spectacle pour créer un objet équilibré et harmonieux»

— Sara Thibault, montheatre.qc.ca

«Ces apparitions brouillent les étiquettes de l’intervention scénique. En confondant le spectateur sur ce qui est à l’origine du son ou de l’action, l’objet ou celui qui l’active, le concepteur ou celui qui l’opère, ses oeuvres semblent chaque fois enrichir les termes de « mise en scène » et de « performance » d’un sens premier, concret. »

— Marion Gerbier, La scena musicale


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