Michel Bret
1941, Lyon (France)
Lives and works in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt (France)
Edmond Couchot
1932, Alger (Algeria)–2020, Paris (France)
Les Pissenlits, 1990-2005
Interactive installation
Custom software, video projection, microphone
Variable dimensions
Gift from Marie-Hélène Tramus and Michel Bret, 2024
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Musée national d'art moderne / Centre de création industrielle (Mnam / Cci)
AM 2024-181
Both in their teaching and their art, Michel Bret and Edmond Couchot were prominent figures in digital creation in France. The latter turned to this field after a career as a painter; in the 1960s, he produced luminokinetic paintings that reacted to musical compositions of his own choosing. The former began developing computer programmes in the 1970s, from which he created a large body of works in motion.
In 1988, in collaboration with Marie-Hélène Tramus, they created their first interactive work, which featured the image of a feather floating in the air in response to the viewer's as they blew into a microphone. Two years later, they continued their research using an analogue device: the pistils of a virtual dandelion were released in response to the visitor's breath. This work evolved into Les Pissenlits (Dandelions), with the increase in computer power allowing for the simulation of several plants simultaneously. The images produced in this work are not pre-calculated but generated in real time based on the intensity of the blowing, making them unique to each viewer. As Couchot explained, "The image’s life may depend on a single breath. But in that breath, it also gains the power to be reborn elsewhere, differently, ultimately becoming more than just one image.”