Démonstration par Claudio Bettinelli d’un casque de réalité virtuelle avec suivi du mouvement, à l’Ircam, en studio
IRCAM launches new working groups for artistic research
In a context where technological innovation is largely driven at scale by industrial players, and is too often perceived as an end in itself, IRCAM stands out by treating it as a means to explore new expressive possibilities. Under the impetus of composer and mathematician Carmine Emanuele Cella, artistic research at IRCAM is gaining new momentum and asserting its singularity: its ability to recontextualize technologies, to divert and transform them into tools for thought and creation, in the service of new artistic forms.
IRCAM’s artistic research is being restructured around three major cross-cutting questions:
- Why humans? — examining the role of humans in relation to computational tools, AI, and emerging forms of co-creativity
- Why instruments? — questioning transformations in instrumentality, augmented instruments, and hybrid practices
- Why concerts? — revisiting formats of performance, dissemination, and the sharing of musical experience
Three hybrid research groups dedicated to these questions bring together composers, scientists, performers, developers, computer music directors, and institutional partners in an interdisciplinary approach. They form the core of IRCAM’s new artistic research framework.
Musica Ex Machina: Computational Creativity and AI
The Musica Ex Machina group explores transformations in musical creation in the age of artificial intelligence. Its work focuses on multimodal generation, composition assistance, structural models based on deep learning, as well as the new aesthetics emerging from these practices.
Team
Alfredo Baione, Guillaume Doras (IRCAM, Sound Analysis and Synthesis team), Luke Dzwonczyk (UC Berkeley), Daniele Ghisi (composer), Pierre Guillot (IRCAM, developer), HANATSUmiroir (musical ensemble) Agustín Issidoro (composer), Carlo Laurenzi (computer music designer), Marco Stroppa (composer), etc.
Orchestra of the Future: Augmented Instruments and New Gestures
The Orchestra of the Future group focuses on transformations in instrumental and orchestral practice through technologies that augment gesture, sound, and space. Research includes hybrid instruments, gesture capture, distributed systems, and new forms of writing for augmented ensembles.
Team
Per Bloland (composer), Henri Boutin (Sorbonne Université-IRCAM, Sound Systems and Signals: Audio/Acoustics, Instruments team), Pierre Carré (RIM), Richard Causton (composer), Matteo Cesari (musician), Alois Cerbu, Simone Conforti (computer music designer / teacher), Emmanuel Flety (IRCAM, Engineering & Prototype department), Maija Hynninen (composer), Katalin Koltai (musician), Orlane Mammar (IRCAM, Sound Systems and Signals: Audio/Acoustics, Instruments team), Hèctor Parra (composer), etc.
Musica Hic et Nunc: New Concert Formats
The Musica Hic et Nunc group reexamines the very concept of the concert, focusing on emerging forms such as XR, spatialization, and interactivity
Team
Jean-Louis Giavitto (CNRS-IRCAM, Musical Representations team), Simon Kanzler (composer), Serge Lemouton (computer music designer), Augustin Muller (computer music designer), Miller Puckette (IRCAM), Hugues Vinet (IRCAM, Director of Innovation and Research Resources), Sébastien Roux (composer), Diemo Schwarz (IRCAM, Sound Music Movement Interaction team), Claudia Jane Scroccaro (computer music designer / teacher), etc.
Additional initiatives complement this framework, including regular meetings with academic partners, workshops with guest ensembles, and thematic calls for projects. Together, these efforts help make Ircam a space where artistic research is built collectively, at the intersection of knowledge and practices.
