Carmine Emanuele Cella, New Director of Artistic Research at IRCAM
Carmine, your career has been shaped by a dual background in both music and applied mathematics, as well as by a dual profession as composer and mathematics researcher.
I studied piano, composition, and computer music at the G. Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, Italy, before completing a doctorate in composition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. At the same time, I pursued studies in philosophy and mathematics, which led me, in 2011, to defend a PhD in mathematical logic applied to music at the University of Bologna, entitled On Symbolic Representations of Music. Music and mathematics were already closely intertwined.
In 2007, I began a long-term collaboration with IRCAM in Paris, as both researcher and composer. This experience allowed me to explore the relationship between these two disciplines, focusing in particular on sound analysis and synthesis. My work at IRCAM was a key stage in developing my research into symbolic representations of music and mathematical models of sound.
What is your mission as Director of Artistic Research?
My role is to strengthen IRCAM’s unique hybrid identity, positioned at the intersection of art and science, in order to foster the emergence of innovative and visionary creations that would be difficult to achieve within other institutions.
IRCAM occupies a singular place within the landscape of contemporary creation: it is a laboratory where scientific research meets artistic experimentation, where composers, performers, engineers, and researchers collaborate to explore new dimensions of sound and music. This art/science duality goes far beyond a simple dialogue between disciplines; it represents a true space of transformation, where theoretical discoveries directly nourish artistic practice, and where the needs of artists inspire new technological advances.
My aim is to create an environment where composers and researchers can work together to explore new forms of musical expression, drawing on digital tools and advanced mathematical models.
In your view, what are the key challenges of artistic research, and how do you intend to address them?
One of the main challenges of artistic research today is to restore music’s experimental and forward-looking role. Too often, technological innovation is seen as an end in itself, whereas it should instead serve as a means of exploring new expressive possibilities. It is essential to develop tools that respect artistic sensitivity while opening up new creative horizons. This approach requires close collaboration between artists, developers of new technologies, and audiences, in order to rethink how we perceive and experience music.
It also calls for a rethinking of how we make music today: how can technology be used to psuh the boundaries of musical language? What new models of performance can we imagine? How can we redefine the role of the audience within the musical experience?
In our future projects, it will also be essential to address key issues around parity, equality, and equity in order to build, together, an ever more open and inclusive space.
by Jérémie Szpirglas