Stéphan Barron is a French artist and lecturer at Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier III. He has been developing the concept of Planetary Art since the 1980's. This is an art form which takes Earth in its planetary dimension as its basis for artistic creation.
Barron has also articulated the theory of Technoromanticism, which establishes links between art and new technologies in the context of the threats posed to nature by technoscience and economic development. Techno romanticism seeks to analyse the return of the human body within the technological arts, formulating the hypothesis that a technological society needs a corporeal rebalancing of perceptions. A recent project is O_O_O, a live performance and sound installation that transforms in real time, using singing voices, measures of ozone from the GOME satellite spinning around earth and measures of ozone produced by city pollution in the exhibition centre Le FRUC in Montpellier, France.
Barron was awarded the Villa Medici Grant in 1996 and the Ministry of Culture FIACRE Grant in 1999. His work has been exhibited in Paris, New York City, Berlin, Sao Paolo, Adelaide and Dresden, amongst other cities.
