A Quebec pioneer of experimental video and inventor of the ‘boyétizeur anamorphique’ (1974), Jean-Pierre Boyer has been a professor in the communications department and later the École des médias at l’UQÀM since 1986, where he teaches critical theory in the field of communications and socio-pol-ethical approaches to alternative and experimental media. As a researcher and co-founder of the Centre de recherche en imagerie populaire (CRIP-UQÀM), he is also interested in iconographic and discursive production within social movements in Quebec and around the world. He has published three essays on the political philosophy and ‘pamphlet writings’ of Thomas Paine (1995 and 1998) and Pierre du Calvet (2002), and contributed to the anthology Pour changer le monde - Affiches des mouvements sociaux au Québec de 1966 à 2007 (2008). As an artist-citizen, he has produced several experimental video works and documentaries (1972-2002), has been involved in defending political prisoners and civil liberties in Quebec, and has created an interactive ‘shamanic’ video sculpture entitled Totem d'humanité (2002). In the autumn of 2013, a retrospective of his works was held at the Cinémathèque québécoise.