My work uses both obsolete technology and open source software. This choice provides a perspective on the artistic uses as well as on the discourse (both artistic and corporate) surrounding media art and the commercialization of the tools with which it is normally practiced. This critical point of view was informed by my role as a founding and active member of the not-for-profit media lab Artengine, which seeks to explore the artistic potential of new technologies while addressing concerns of inequality of access to media tools. Recent works occupy the uneasy space between the exploitation and criticism of media art practices. Works I judge as successful display a closed logical loop while inviting the viewer into an apparently open and interactive system.

Castonguay's practice is based in new media and digital art, and his works exploit both obsolete technology and open source software. He was a founding member of the not-for-profit media lab Artengine. Elements, a recent installation, was shown at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in 2006. His interactive installation Digitale was shown at the Digital and Video Art Fair (2005),Medienkunstlabor in Graz, Austria (2004), at Pierre- François Ouellette Art Contemporain (2003), and at the Ottawa Art Gallery (2003). Générique, his previous installation, was shown at the Glendon Gallery at York University in Toronto (2003), the Musée d'art contemporain in Montréal (2004) and the Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City (2001). His digitally-mastered photographs have been featured in group exhibitions at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Jack Shainman and Laurence Miller Galleries in New York and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography in Ottawa. His works are included in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, the Musée d'art contemporain of Montreal, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary photography as well as corporate and private collections

Born in Hull, Québec in 1968, Alexandre Castonguay studied at the University of Ottawa (B.F.A. 1991 and B.A. 1993) and at Concordia University, Montréal (M.F.A. 2004). He teaches at UQAM's Ecole des arts visuels et mediatiques. He is represented by the gallery Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain in Montréal (http://pfoac.com).