Brume

A new artistic video game by pixels·collectif, Brume, opened TOPO’s 2024-26 programming, which explores the themes nostalgia, ecology and simulacra. Beginning at 5:00 p.m. on 29 February 2024 this new installation in TOPO’s window display staged a welcoming warm future – but troubling – to conclude the month of February 2024 similarly warm. The window display exhibition, which could be viewed Monday to Saturday from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m., lets visitors to play the game using an arcade terminal. The forty-minute video game and its eco-anxiety experience awaited you.

Taking up the theme of the climate crisis against the backdrop of a city in flames, Brume, the second video game by pixels·collectif, consists in a narrative ramble in pixel art whose aesthetic is reminiscent of the arcade terminals of the earliest video games.

Brume is a character made of water whose mission is to put out the fires threatening the town of Picville-sur-Rivière. Knowing nothing about humans’ way of life, Brume discovers them through each object saved from the flames, quickly forming an idea of the causes of this climate disaster.

Driven by an eco-anxiety at once paralysing and motivating to act urgently, with Brume pixels·collectif proposes a challenge. How can we imagine other ways of inhabiting this planet when comfort is so comfortable?

Brume is an invitation to play: to play for pleasure, to think, to foil the everyday, to imagine other futures.

Brume was made in collaboration with the sound designer Guillaume Plourde. Phoebe Yī Lìng has translated Brume into English. The project is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Photo credit: Khristian Hernandez

pixels·collectif

Formed in 2020, pixels·collectif joins the practices of Frédérique Bordeleau, Andrée-Anne Mercier and Sandrine Cadieux around a common desire to create artistic, engaging and accessible video games. Their mandate is to take up the video game medium, historically dominated by men and commercial interests, in order to present alternative narratives and promote the recognition of this medium in the visual arts milieu. In collaboration with the sound designer Guillaume Plourde, the collective presented an initial game, Sunrise, at the Perchée gallery in Montreal (2021), at the Art Urbain Montréal exhibition Mémoire de l’avenir (2022) and at the Art Souterrain exhibition Espaces Croisés (2022). Their new game, Brume, was launched at the Eisode gallery in Montreal (2023).

Andrée-Anne Mercier

A multidisciplinary artist based in Montreal, Andrée-Anne Mercier holds a B.A. in visual and media arts from UQÀM and a D.E.S.S. in arts, creation and technology from Université de Montréal. Her artistic practice explores various modes of expression, ranging from painting to video games, installations, 3D modelling and animation. In recent years, she has undertaken several international artist residencies in Japan, Spain and Iceland. Represented by Galerie Robertson Arès in Montréal, she recently presented her work at the Foire Plural (Montréal) and Art Toronto (Toronto).

Sandrine Cadieux

Sandrine Cadieux holds a B.A. and a D.E.S.S. in arts, creation and technology from Université de Montréal, and divides her time between the arts and education. She is interested in the mediums of photography, 3D modelling/printing and video games. She is a 3D modeller with pixels·collectif, a photographer working with musicians, and a specialised facilitator for extracurricular activities and libraries, with the aim of making these practices accessible to a wide range of audiences.

Frédérique Bordeleau

With a BA in Communications, Frédérique Bordeleau has been passionate about programming ever since she studied for a DESS in Arts, Creation and Technology at Université de Montréal. She then embarked on a web development bootcamp at Lighthouse Labs to make it her career. Since then, she has divided her time between her work at Cirque du soleil and her passions: programming video games for pixels·collectif, cinema, sport and technological art.