Zaven Pare

Zaven Paré is a visual artist who also divides his work between experimentation and research. A former student of the Beaux-Arts de Paris, from his mastery of drawing, he has never stopped inventing new forms and new media of expression. From low tech to high tech, he poetically invents new devices, from Japanese robotics laboratories to the suburbs of Mumbai; from the Mata Atlantica to his workshop in Rio de Janeiro. His works are recognized for being pioneers in the fields of new media: from machine art to the creation of interfaces. He invented the electronic puppet and artifacts that combine his mastery of mechanics, optics, pneumatics and electronics. His works are present in collections in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, the United States and Russia; as well as in various archival funds. His devices have been used in the staging of plays by French playwright Valère Novarina (CalArts, Henson Festival, La Mama etc, Avignon Festival). He has collaborated with Canadian choreographers (Marie Chouinard, Edouard Lock), for theatre and musical theatre (Denis Marleau, Mauricio Kagel) and for ballet and opera (Het National Ballet of Amsterdam, Opéra Paris-Bastille). Since 2009, he has collaborated in the creation of the Robot Actors Project by roboticist Hiro-Shi Ishiguro, in the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University. He has been awarded the French American Fund for Performing Arts at the California Institute for the Arts, the Villa Kujoyama, the Japan Society for Promotion of Science as a roboticist. And, he received the Instituto Sergio Motta Prize in Arts and Technology in Brazil; recently, he was the guest of honour at the Moscow Puppet Festival. He is the author of the books The Golden Age of Japanese Robotics (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2016) and more recently, The Anthropomorphic Spectacle, Between Monkeys and Robots (Dijon: Les presses du réel, 2021).