Michel Jaffrennou, Pioneer of New Technologies in Art, Dies at 79

Michel Jaffrennou, a French artist and pioneer of new technologies in art, died on December 1 at age 79. In 1984, his groundbreaking performance "Vidéo Circus" at the Centre Pompidou amazed audiences by seamlessly blending live actors with virtual animals across 30 monitors. He followed with the ambitious "Vidéopérette" at the Grande Halle de la Villette in 1989. In 1991, with Norbert Hilaire, he conceived a special issue of artpress titled "Les Nouvelles Technologies, un art sans modèle," which became a reference. Earlier in the 1970s, he created performances integrating video. He later produced short TV shows ("Jim Tracking"), the animated film "Pierre et le Loup" (Canal+, winning the 7 d'Or for best animated film in 1996), and multimedia spectacles with African musicians, such as "Désert Blues" at the musée du Quai Branly in 2007. Trained at the Beaux-Arts, he maintained his drawing skill in storyboards; having started with the Lettristes, he retained a love for wordplay. Catherine Millet's tribute notes his poetic nature.