Luc Courchesne, one of the first in Canada to use interactive video to artistic ends, produced the works Portrait One and Family Portrait on the aesthetic of play. His installations are set up so that viewers are given a set of rules and objective parameters as well as technological limitations as part of a game. Interaction with the portraits involve engaging in a conversation. This opens up a whole set of factors related to our awareness of others. This language, speech and dialogue with a virtual world raises queries about human contact, imagination, symbolism and desire. Meaning is not given directly by Courchesne in these works but is generated within a system that includes the observer. The negotiation and encounter of the other also raises ethical issues of the duty of reciprocity and response. Courchesne's work is deeply involved with the surrounding society and concepts of sincerity and self-awareness.