Étienne Boulanger lives and works in Alma, Quebec. He holds a master's degree in research and creation from the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi. Artist and organizer, he collaborated in the establishment of the international festival of performance art Art Nomade de Chicoutimi in 2007. He produced and directed a documentary on the artists of the Fringe festival in Singapore in 2006. With the collective Cédule 40 he participated in the International Garden Festival at the Jardins de Métis (2006-2011), in the 400th anniversary gardens of Quebec, in the art event Orange in Saint-Hyacinthe (2009) in addition to making monumental sculptures as part of the of the policy of integrating art into architecture. He has exhibited in galleries in Montreal and the Saguenay since 2003 and is the recipient of numerous grants and awards for his hybrid artistic production. Since 2007 his practice has been organized around action art. His works have been shown in several galleries, events and festivals in Canada, Poland, France, Singapore, Indonesia and China. He presented an unprecedented performance for the opening of the prestigious Gala des Arts Visuels at the Rialto Theater in Montreal, an evening of awards which, each year, rewards the best of Quebec visual art.
By placing his body out of balance in space, in a precarious and upset manner, he sets up a utopian and unstable system of benchmarks. Using rudimentary instruments, such as the balance, winch or pulley and, combined with new image and sound technologies, he extends or modify his body by becoming an extension of the poetic gesture.
