Light as a medium, space as a canvas
Studio Lemercier is co-directed by artist Joanie Lemercier and independent curator Juliette Bibasse.
Based in Brussels for 10 years, the studio team works primarily with light in space. Often projecting on unconventional surfaces such as water mist or custom built structures, their practice seeks to escape from the traditional constraints of the video screen. Much of the work is inspired by nature and reflects on the representation of the natural world through mathematics, science, and technology. Abstract environments rendered as refined grids, lines, shadows, and volumes give way to majestic landscapes assembled from the same minimalist forms.
This exploration of nature goes hand in hand with Joanie Lemercier’s personal commitment to environmental activism, which in turn informs the work of the studio. Studio Lemercier strives to produce ambitious installations which highlight how technological experimentation can remain conscious of environmental issues and prioritize alternative processes of art-making.
Over the last 20 years, Lemercier has worked on stage designs, architectural projections, and installations, collaborating with artists including Jay-Z, Flying Lotus and Portishead’s Adrian Utley.
His first monographic exhibition ‘Paisajes de Luz’ was presented in 2021 at Fundaćion Telefónica Madrid and has since been exhibited in Mexico City, Lima and Arequipa. Other notable solo projects include ‘Points de Vue’ at Contemporary Art Center Matmut and ‘Exhibit!’ at Le Tetris, France. Lemercier has exhibited in a number of institutions including Bozar Brussels, MAAT Lisbon and MUDAC Lausanne, art fairs such as Art Basel, Paris+ and SCOPE, and events such as Nuit Blanche Paris, Scopitone Nantes, Multiplica Luxembourg, and MUTEK Montreal.
Bibasse has been an artist producer and curator for over 10 years, notably as the international curator for STRP festival in Eindhoven, Art Souterrain in Montreal, and Llum in Barcelona. Since 2020, she has been directing and curating (Un)Holy Light for the city of Leuven. In 2019 she co-founded SALOON Brussels, an international network of women working in the art and is an active member of Belgium and France’s digital arts scenes.
Joanie Lemercier (b. 1982) is a French visual artist and environmental activist whose work explores human perception through the manipulation of light in space. Working primarily with light projection and computer programming, Lemercier transforms the appearance of everyday objects and forms, bending reality to his imagination. His work transcends the flat surface, extending dimensionality through the interplay of light and shadow on materials such as wood, glass, paper, ceramics, textiles and water. Lemercier was first introduced to the process of creating art on a computer at age five by attending classes on pattern design for fabrics that were taught by his mother. This early education grounded his interest in physical structures: geometry, patterns, and minimalist forms. As Lemercier’s work evolved, he began to explore these elements through the physics and philosophy of how light can be used to alter perceived reality.
Much of Lemercier’s practice is inspired by nature and reflects on the representation of the natural world through mathematics, science, and technology. Abstract environments rendered as refined grids, lines, shadows, and volumes give way to majestic landscapes assembled from these same minimalist forms. In recent years, Lemercier has become increasingly concerned with climate change and environmental degradation, lending his projection skills and artistry to activist causes and groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Les Soulèvements de la Terre, Ende Gelände, meticulously tracking and publishing his studio’s carbon footprint, and supporting initiatives like #CleanNFT to encourage other digital artists to reduce their own environmental impact. His latest video installation, Slow Violence, premiered at Fundación Telefónica in 2021 on the occasion of the artist’s first major solo show, looks at the devastating effects of coal mining on one of Europe’s oldest forests.
Lemercier has been working with projected light since 2005 and co-founded the acclaimed visual label AntiVJ with artists Yannick Jacquet, Romain Tardy and Olivier Ratsi in 2006. He has been represented by a New York based gallery since 2010. Focusing his practice on installations and gallery work, he has been exhibited around the globe in institutions such as the China Museum of Digital Art in Beijing, Art Basel Miami, Sundance Film Festival, Espacio Fundación Telefónica in Madrid. He collaborates with several sound artists: Murcof, Flying Lotus, JayZ, Before Tigers, Thomas Vaquié, …
Since founding his creative studio in Brussels in 2013, Lemercier has been developing ever more ambitious installations, gallery pieces, and research experiments that expand the creative possibilities of projected light in space. In recent years, he has sought to completely dematerialize the projection surface, working with transparent materials and water mist.
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