Claire Bardainne

Claire Bardainne was born in 1978 in Grenoble, France. She trained in visual communication at École Estienne and in scenography at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, developing early interests in how graphic signs and images construct space rather than remaining flat illustrations.

In 2004, Bardainne co-founded Studio BW with Olivier Waissmann, producing visual identities, multimedia graphics and exhibition design. Through this work and collaborations with research communities concerned with media and the sociology of the imaginary, she deepened her understanding of images as cultural and spatial systems.

Around 2010, Bardainne began collaborating with computer scientist and juggler Adrien Mondot. In 2011, they co-founded Adrien M & Claire B, a jointly directed company where works are created "with four hands"—a principle ensuring neither artist receives sole credit for their shared productions. Their interactive exhibition *XYZT: Abstract Landscapes* invited visitors to move through fields of letters, light and digital matter. In *Hakanaï* (2013), a dancer occupies a translucent cube whose moving images alter the apparent architecture around her, with Bardainne's graphic and scenographic authorship making the projected world legible as an expressive environment.

In 2014, Bardainne and Mondot collaborated with choreographer Mourad Merzouki on *Pixel*, where their digital scenography gave eleven dancers unstable floors, falling light and virtual obstacles. *Le mouvement de l'air* and *Mirages & miracles* expanded the partnership's vocabulary across performance and installation. The 2019 project *Acqua Alta* joined a stage work, an augmented-reality pop-up book and a digital experience, with Bardainne's design and drawing shaping the ink-like flood through which the story unfolds. Later projects including *Faune* and *En Amour* continued to mix physical images, augmented reality, music and audience movement.

For dance history, Bardainne matters because she treats scenography as behavior. Her images do not simply frame performers; they establish apparent forces, surfaces and thresholds that affect how a dancer's actions are perceived. This contribution must be understood alongside the work of her co-director, choreographers, dancers, sound artists and technical team.