GALLERY GUIDE
Future Militarry Blackbird Jet, 3-D printd resin, 2023
From politics, psychology, biotechnology, theories on postcolonialism and on the decolonization of nature, I propose a critical gaze on domination relationships… With an aesthetic that can seem simple and naive, I underline the absurdity of certain subjects or situations to reveal their troubling aspects.
— Stéphanie Morissette
INTRODUCTION
In Speculative Future, Montréal artist Stéphanie Morissette explores the conflicting relationship between humans, nature, and technology. Combining insightful observation with dark humor, Morissette imagines a future where biological specimens and mechanical technology have merged to form new, hybrid species.
Morissette questions how nature could eventually develop if altered by humans. For her collection of sculptures, Bird/Drones, the artist assembles and 3D prints her creatures in a manner reminiscent of biotech laboratories. In her series Birds of Prey, she illustrates various groups of Bird/Drones as military formations in the style of 19th-century naturalist John James Audubon’s Birds of America. Far in the future, paleontologists excavate and display remnants of these strange hybrids as fossils for further study.
Engaging in a form of radical imagination, Morissette’s Speculative Future questions the troubling realities and murky ethics underlying today’s scientific innovations in synthetic biology, genetic engineering, and military weapons.
Heather Ferrell, Curator and Director of Exhibitions
CHECKLIST
Birds of Prey series*
A Banditry of Valkyries, 2024
watercolor and digital print on paper
36 x 26 in
A Cauldron of X47 Drone Bats, 2024
watercolor and digital print on paper
36 x 26 in
A Colony of X47 Drone Bats, 2024
watercolor and digital print on paper
36 x 26 in
A Descent of Reapers, 2024
watercolor and digital print on paper
36 x 26 in
A Kettle of Drones, 2024
watercolor and digital print on paper
36 x 26 in
A Parliament of Global Hawks, 2024
watercolor and digital print on paper
36 x 26 in
A Swarm of Black Hornets, 2024 watercolor and digital print on paper
36 x 26 in
A Wake of Reapers, 2024 watercolor and digital print on paper
36 x 26 in
A Murder of Drones, 2024 Book in the Style of Birds of America by John James Audubon unique edition, handmade binding: watercolor and digital print on paper
32 x 52 in
* All Birds of Prey works on paper are available for $1,500 (print only, edition of 3, unframed)
Bird/Drone series
Bird/Drone, 2023 plastic, metal, and paper 12 x 12 x 12 in $2,300
Drone with Bird Feet, 2024
plastic and metal 4.5 x 4.5 in $375
Drone with Feathers on Four Propellers, 2024 paper, plastic, and metal
4.5 x 4.5 in $450
Future Military Blackbird Jet, 2023 resin (3D printed)
9 x 4.5 x 3 in $2,200
Future Sentinel Drone, 2023 resin (3D printed)
6.5 x 12.5 x 2 in $2,200
Polycephaly Drone/Birds (three heads), 2022
plastic and paper
5.5 x 8 x 7.5 in $1,900
Polycephaly Drone/Birds (six heads), 2022
plastic and paper
8 x 9 x 10 in $2,200
Fossils
Drone/Bird Ichnofossil 2, 2023
4 x 4 in
Drone/Bird Ichnofossil, 2023
3 x 3 in
Drone/Bird Ichnofossil, 2023
6 x 6 in
Drone/Bird Ichnofossil, 2023
2 x 3 in
Drone/Bird Fossil 1, 2023
7 x 5 x 1 in
Drone/Bird Ichnofossil, 2023
6 x 6 in
Drone/Bird Fossil, 2023
6 x 6 in
ceramic
$300 each
All Works Courtesy of the Artist and JANO Gallery, Montréal
Stéphanie Morissette: Speculative Future, BCA Center installation view, 2025
A Murder of Drones, 2024, digital print, 32 x 52 in
BIOGRAPHY
Stéphanie Morissette (b. 1977, Thetford Mines, Canada) holds an MFA from the Stamps School of Art & Design, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a BA in Art History and Studio Art from Concordia University, Montréal, with a Certificate in Film Scenario from University of Quebec, Montréal, Canada. Morissette’s works have been exhibited in galleries and festivals internationally including MUTEK, International Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music, Montréal; 22e Rencontres Traverse Video, Toulouse; the International Symposium of Electronic Arts, Hong Kong; Women Make Waves Film and Video Festival, Taiwan; and the 10th International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Istanbul.
Morissette has participated in several international residency programs in Canada, Iceland, Finland, and Germany, including her 2018 residency with Imeka, a brain imaging company in Sherbrooke, Canada, where she created her virtual reality artwork, Meanders. In 2025, Meanders will be presented at EMMEDIA’s Particles + Wave Media Arts Festival, Calgary, and at CURRENTS New Media festival, Santa Fe, NM. Her immersive paper installation, Through the Vulture’s Eye, will be on view in 2025 at Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts, Canada. Stéphanie Morissette currently lives and works in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
FAMILY ART SATURDAY
Saturday, March 22, 2025, 11am – 1pm Saturday, May 24, 11am – 1pm Fourth Floor, BCA Studio, BCA Center
Join BCA for a drop-in artmaking activity inspired by the hybrid, Drone/Bird creatures of Stéphanie Morissette featured in her exhibition Speculative Future.
ARTIST TALK WITH STÉPHANIE MORISSETTE
Thursday, March 27, 2025, 6-7:30pm BCA Center, 135 Church St. Zoom option (burlingtoncityarts.org/event to register)
Stéphanie Morissette discusses her exhibition, Speculative Future, which explores the conflicting relationship between humans, nature, and technology. Morissette shares more on the evolution of her Birds of Prey and Bird/Drones series and their relationship to her researchbased practice.
ALL PUBLIC PROGRAMS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
SPRING GROUP AND SCHOOL VISITS
BCA gallery educators lead inquiry-driven group tours that encourage close looking, critical thinking, and thought-provoking conversation. We connect these conversations with hands-on art activities that explore exhibition themes, materials, and artistic processes. We welcome public, private, and homeschool students in grades pre-K to 12 and beyond.
Program fee: $15 per student ($10 tour only) Groups are invited to apply for a partial or full scholarship
Contact Heather Ferrell, Curator/Director of Exhibitions, at hferrell@burlingtoncityarts.org for more information or to reserve a visit.
Stéphanie Morissette: Speculative Future is supported in part by the Maslow Family Foundation. Burlington City Arts is supported in part by the Vermont Arts Council & the National Endowment for the Arts.