Temporality, sleep, and dream are central themes in Jessica Arseneau's artistic practice. Her works draw us into fictive inhabited spaces, that often exists halfway between the conscious and the unconscious, the bodily and the atmospheric. Working with video and installation, Arseneau examines existing temporal structures and our perception of reality within the techno-economic system that surrounds us, which is defined by permanent activity. Her films unfold with a slowness that holds us in suspension. We are repeatedly confronted with sleep deprivation and loneliness, symptoms of an era in which time has become detached from its cosmic, geological, and biological conditions. [my translation]
- Lorenza Kaib, excerpt from the publication Solastalgie – Waldbaden mit Plastikdelfin
Jessica Arseneau’s artworks gently transport us to an in-between state, midway between wakefulness and sleep, physical and virtual, dream and reality. Through video installations and sculptures, Arseneau delves into our perception of time and reality, and into the economics of attention in the era of globalization and digitization, drawing inspiration from the theories of American philosopher Jonathan Crary. Themes arising from science fiction, alternative realities, and dystopian worlds such as those imagined by author J. G. Ballard also play an essential role in her approach. Her works are deployed within a meticulously designed light and sound ambience that is at once enveloping, disorienting, and slightly discomfiting. She plumbs subjects such as invasive artificial light and sleep deprivation, as well as their effects on biorhythms and wellbeing.
- Julia Eilers Smith, excerpt from the text for Est-Nord-Est, Artist Residency
Her work walks the line between the conscious and the unconscious. Starting from still or filmed images, she creates atmospheres and enhances them with other elements such as light, sound, or text. Often taking inspiration by science ficiton, mythology, or an imagined future, her pieces unfold at an extremely slow pace, sometimes in suspended time, opening fictional spaces dominated by their own tensions.
- Excerpt from the exhibition brochure of Power up, imaginaires techniques et utopies sociales, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse
Jessica Arseneau is an acadian artist who grew up near Telagadik-Tracadie, Canada, and is based in Berlin.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from the Université de Moncton (painting/printmaking) and a Master’s degree in Media Art from the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB), both with distinction. She recently received the Mülheimer Kunstverein Prize (2025) and the Éloize Award for Visual Artist of the Year (2024), as well as several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, ArtsNB, and artist residency programs.
Her work has been presented internationally, including at Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin; HilbertRaum, Berlin; B_LA_M, at the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles; the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Jihlava; La Kunsthalle Mulhouse; Bandung Photography Triennale, Bandung; Vorspiel/Transmediale, Berlin; Vector Festival, Toronto; L’Œil de Poisson, Québec City; and Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille.
Since 2021, she is part of the artists' collective DELTA, and since 2023, the collective Emerging Eye Network, Berlin