Originally from Winnipeg Manitoba, Lorraine Oades has been working as an artist in Montreal, Quebec since the late 1980s. Her sculpture/installations incorporate time-based media such as sound, video and film in order to invite viewers to engage physically with the work and explore their creative potential. For Oades, art making is a performance-based activity where the process of time is implicit in the final artwork. Early works like the Diane Piano and Fuse use multi-track audio and multiple tape-recorders to examine three-dimensional aspects of sound. Her recent work incorporates electronics and digital media within large-scale installations to investigate the impact of artificial intelligence and new technologies on human communication and social engagement.

In addition to her art practice Oades has initiated a number of community-based collaborative projects that emphasize alternative forms of public intervention aimed at addressing timely social concerns from a local perspective. She has co-founded several artist groups, the most recent of which, Cut Rate Collective, published USED/Goods, a bilingual book based on the project of the same name that took place at the Montreal Salvation Army Thrift Store. The book and exhibition consider the social significance of artists’ use of everyday objects in real world environments where audiences have little or no knowledge of contemporary art. Oades’s work has been included in exhibitions across Canada and internationally. She teaches in the Intermedia: Video, Performance and Electronic Arts and ARTX programs at Concordia University.