The Région Grand Est organized with {CORRESPONDANCES DIGITALES] on Wednesday June 19, 2024, in conjunction with the Constellations Festival, a professional day as part of the Rencontres Internationales de la Culture, de la Connaissance et de l’Immersif (RICCI) in Metz. The theme of the event was Digital artistic and cultural projects – creativity, transmission and mediation.
This one-day event was aimed at professionals working in the field of culture and artistic creation: festivals, events, local authorities, cultural venues, artists and creative structures. It was introduced by Martine Lizola, President of the Culture and Remembrance Commission of the Metz Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Patrick Thil, Deputy Mayor of Metz and Councillor in charge of cultural establishments. Région Grand Est and Patrick Thil, deputy mayor of Metz and councillor responsible for cultural establishments.
The day’s program was designed to focus first on the challenges of immersive mediation for the public and local residents (morning), and then to discuss the professionalization and distribution needs of the regional and national cultural immersion sector.
The next edition of RICCI will take place in Épinal, from October 14 to 16. Register now!
MORNING – “Transmissions – implementing mediation around the digital arts”.
The theme of this morning’s event was accessibility and the approaches to public mediation implied by these forms of artistic expression in a digital environment. To this end, the Constellation experience was highlighted, demonstrating its multiple impacts on public spaces, students, residents and tourists in Metz. Two inspiring venues then presented concrete actions and their methodology for disseminating digital arts in their territory (St-Ex in Reims and Kikk in Namur). . These projects often stem from regional, national or European experimental programs, as highlighted by the K8 Institut (Germany), Bliiida (Metz) and Oblique/s (Caen).
10:00 am – 10:30 am – To kick things off, feedback from Constellations.
For the past eight editions, from June to September, the Constellations festival has featured numerous artistic and digital installations throughout the city of Metz. In 2023, over a million spectators discovered 82 artists represented in 28 works shown over 73 days. Jérémie Bellot, the festival’s artistic director, looks back on the programming for the 2024 edition and the impact of one of France’s biggest digital art trails on Metz residents and tourists alike. For the teams, the objective of this year’s edition was to offer harmonious continuity between the night-time and daytime itineraries, a real challenge to integrate the digital arts into daylight. This year, visitors are invited to discover 17 works, including 10 new creations, spread over a 2.5 km route.
Focus on the Black Out project
An inspiring example of this 2024 programming was shared by Collectif 804 artists and Black Out project creators Sabrine Sidki (Collectif 804) and Guillaume Pouchoux (Desaxismundi), who went behind the scenes of their creative process. Collectif 804, formed especially for this project, faced significant challenges due to the hybrid nature of their show, combining dance, digital arts and sound. The conception of their work required seven months of improvisation and bodywork. Created two years ago as a school graduation project, the work underwent numerous rewrites, resulting in two distinct formats: a one-hour live performance and a ten-minute recorded version. Work on emotions and atmospheres was crucial, with music conceived by sound designer Romain Barthélémy to translate feelings into sound. The piece, conceived as a radio work, integrates the actors’ voices and various sound elements, spatially diffused in the Dôme, enriched by the visual universe created by Guillaume.
Metz’s commitment to local audiences
The City of Metz’s Constellations festival uses public space as a privileged vector to make digital art accessible to the general public in places they frequent on a daily basis. In connection with the festival, Élise Gaultier presented the co-design work with schoolchildren, as part of Metz, a city 100% committed to Artistic and Cultural Education (EAC). Multidisciplinary workshops were organized with ESAL students to transfer know-how, as well as with adult professionals thanks to Constellation’s sponsorship, and with families and adults from the Agora social center. These initiatives illustrate the city of Metz’s determination to pass on and integrate the digital arts into local education and culture through this unifying event.
The policy of digital arts in the public space, particularly inspiring in Metz, highlights the challenges of transmitting these new creations, and also of transmitting them through co-design workshops. Other examples with similar intentions were shared in the conference that followed on setting up mediation systems around digital and immersive creation.
10:30 am – 11:30 am – Conference – Setting up mediation systems around digital and immersive creation.
While ” digital arts espouse the concept of ‘relational aesthetics’ where art enables encounters, proximitý ‘interhuman’, and contributes to the ‘relational society’.” (source: HACNUM 2023 study ), it appears, nevertheless, important to raise awareness and support audiences towards these forms of artistic expression, as is the case at St-Ex (Reims) and Namur’s KIKK.
Raising awareness of the arts and technologies: Feedback from Saint-Ex (Reims)
For the past 27 years, the Saint-Ex digital culture center in Reims has been committed to raising awareness of the digital world, with an ambitious program of exhibitions, events and workshops. One of these emblematic events is La Nuit Numérique. Géraldine Taillandier, the center’s director, presented this key event for raising awareness and discovering the digital arts, which Saint-Ex brings to a wide audience.
Deeply rooted in the question of audiences, St-Ex is committed to supporting digital creation and public outreach. The Nuit Numérique, one of their flagship events, features some fifteen artistic works in line with the biannual theme of their programming. Their approach is based on the idea that artistic initiation can serve as a gateway to the discovery of digital tools. The artistic direction ensures that the programming is accessible and sensitive, enabling the works to serve as mediation. To take things a step further, they accompany visitors in the discovery of more complex digital works, with a team of five people and around twenty volunteers, including ESAL students.
More broadly, Saint-Ex strives to make its activities accessible to as many people as possible, organizing, for example, storytelling tours from the age of 18 months. They work closely with artists on their installations and use their Fab Lab for tangible mediation, particularly beneficial for audiences with disabilities.
The Namur KiKK: A creative territorial platform
Similar initiatives have been organized in Belgium, such as Namur’s KiKK festival, which started out as a trade-only event, but over the years has expanded to encompass the whole city and become a creative, long-term territorial platform for digital culture. Gilles Bazelaire, co-founder of the festival, spoke of this dual dynamic of broadening audiences and extending the festival in other forms between seasons.
Initially created to help their customers understand the projects developed by Gilles Bazelaire and his associates, KiKK has evolved into a larger-scale event, with a trail of 60 works in the public space and the creation of third-party venues such as TRAKK. The festival’s audience is highly international, attracting 3,000 professionals, while the national public at large – up to 30,000 visitors – is gradually acculturated to the digital arts thanks to playful proposals. TRAKK and its new venue, Le Pavillon, mainly welcome schoolchildren, local residents and associations. They make a point of training students to act as mediators in front of the works, which considerably enriches the visitor experience.
Over time, a greater understanding of digital art has developed among local and national audiences, proving that acculturation to digital art, albeit slow, is bearing fruit. KiKK is also working to simplify and target the festival’s communication to make it more legible, both for professionals (B2B) and the general public (B2C).
Numerous art centers and cultural venues give pride of place to digital art and creativity. Drawing on their wealth of experience in terms of mediation, they shared their experiments and projects to better welcome and support audiences, and encourage them to participate in and contribute to these different artistic and digital forms.
11:30am – 12pm – School pitches and experimental programs – Training and nurturing creative talent.
While the challenges of transmission to the public are particularly acute, they are just as essential in terms of training and nurturing creative talent.
Bliiida (Metz)
In fact, this is one of the missions being developed by Bliiida and the ESAL art school in Metz with regard to the digital arts, to encourage and promote numerous artistic collaborations between this third-party venue and art students. These initiatives were presented by Gautier Raguenaud, BLIIIDA’s Development Manager.
At BLIIIDA, a 30,000 m2 digital creation center, a close partnership with local artisans and creators is emphasized to support the local art scene. Intensive collaboration with educational establishments such asESAL and the Beaux-Arts de Metz provides access to dedicated spaces and equipment. For example, weeks of workshops and training courses are organized, covering fields such as rapid prototyping and AI software, with the implicit aim of training the next generation of talent for major events like Constellations. These resources were also put to good use for the creative residency of the work “Black out in variations”, in a Dome, installed on Place de la Comédie, which participants in the Rencontres Interprofessionnelles des Cultures Contemporaines (Ricci) were able to experience exclusively during the launch evening. This immersive space offers a unique experience with spatialized sound and six projectors. The image, even covering the floor, offers total immersion.
Oblique/s (Caen)
Different territory, different challenges. Since 2020, Oblique/s has been working in partnership with Hacnum to foster the relationship between the arts and sciences, both for the private sector and the general public in Normandy. This collaboration, extended to the interregional Grand Oues,t is manifested notably through the Interstice festival. Luc Brou’s speech highlighted Oblique/s’ missions, in particular its artistic residencies with multimedia art schools, financed over four years. However, the current challenge is to capitalize on these initiatives to create a dynamic platform that goes beyond the event framework.
Caen, recently integrated into the UNESCO network of creative cities in the digital arts, is preparing for the city’s millennium year in 2025, with a strong commitment to the arts and sciences. This intensive partnership involves several laboratories and the CHU, with a vision towards 2027 where arts-science relations create a lasting dynamic.
K8 Institute (Germany)
European projects supported by a group of partners (including the K8 Institute), were presented. Launched in 2022 and 2024 respectively, they offer major prospects in terms of creativity and artistic education.
The first, the Cyanotypes project, presented by Sónia Alves, focuses on the issues of education and transmission to art school students in the face of the development of Generative Artificial Intelligence. Their work on technological ecosystems, as conceptualized by James Bridle, explores the multiple intelligences of the modern world, offering new perspectives on the interactions between art and science.
The second, the IMPULSE project, presented by Julia Hartnik, brings together 11 European partners to develop approaches to the patrimonialization of digital artistic and creative works, with the aim of enriching their potential for re-use and regeneration for new projects. The importance of cross-disciplinary research between the arts, sciences and technologies was emphasized, with a particular focus on digital cultural heritage. Their collaboration with BLIIIDA on a hackathon in 2020 illustrates this experimental, multi-disciplinary approach to overcoming obstacles to the transmission of digital memory, be they legal, economic, access, mediation or creative.
The challenges of bringing the digital arts to the general public cover a wide range of approaches, in the form of events and festivals (such as Constellations, KIKK, St-Ex) or mediation/creation initiatives, including audience participation. Whether in the form of festivals, dedicated venues or experimental programs, audiences are the priority for transmission actions to acculturate them to these new forms of contemporary creation. However, the digital arts need audiences as much as they need professionals trained in new digital expressions. That’s why the afternoon was devoted to the presentation of various projects and artists, highlighting their challenges and needs for the future.
AFTERNOON – “TRANSMISSIONS – SUPPORTING DIGITAL CREATION
In her book Digital Art, Christiane Paul, former assistant curator of new media art at the Whitney Museum in New York, explores two distinct approaches to the use of digital art by artists. Some see it as a tool for creating traditional art forms, while others see it as a medium in its own right for producing innovative art forms. Two perspectives for a multitude of potential works to be created, resulting from both the technologies employed and the creative methods specific to each artist.
The considerable diversity of digital artistic formats poses a major challenge for the dissemination of digital artworks. A number of venues are committed to integrating these works into their programming, in order to support digital artists and creators in the development of their projects. Numerous cross-disciplinary initiatives are emerging, bringing together various disciplines such as the arts, science and technology, as well as different infrastructures such as monuments, museums, universities, digital arts centers and third places. These include exhibitions, events and research and development programs.
That’s why the afternoon’s program began with feedback from digital artists, then from local venues, and finally from national and international festivals specializing in immersive experiences.
1:45pm-2:30pm – Artist pitches
Project n°1: Le Port de la Bordée presented by Gaëlle Royer (writer-director) and Vincent Tournaud (director) from Collectif la Bordée.
- Presentation: This collective experience immerses spectators in a seaside journey, using interactive marine equipment to trigger sound and visual experiences.
- Needs: Seeking out new territories and new partners to extend the reach of the experience.
Project n°2 : Work by Jesus S. Batista (Visual artist)
- Presentation: Originally from Grand Est and currently in residence at Les Fresnoy, Jesus Batista has produced a piece inspired by his residency in Greenland in 2019. The work, based on research into cosmic particles, combines the composition of the sky and the northern lights. It is a hybrid installation with a monolith and vibrators that allow visitors to feel cosmic particles, simulating a unique sensory experience.
- Needs: The work is scheduled for performance in February 2025 at L’Hexagone, in co-production with Les Fresnoy. The aim is to design a version of this piece for the public space on a larger scale.
Project n°3: Sonosoccer presented by Vivien Trelcat (Composer / Performer) from Collectif Sonopopée
- Presentation: Reims-based Collectif Sonopopée is a group of musical artists specializing in live performance and new media. Their latest project, Sonopopée, is an interactive installation that blends experimental music, dance and technology around the theme of sport. Inspired by video games and new arcades, the show takes place on a pitch and incorporates a live performance by dancers and street artists, transforming the match into a joyously absurd experience.
- Needs: After a first performance at the Scène nationale de Reims and an event at the Nuit Numérique in St Ex, the collective is looking to present the show in new venues and collaborate with new artists to explore different scenarios. The show will be performed again at l’Arche, but new dates and collaboration opportunities are being sought.
Project n°4: Grégory Wagheneim (Graphic Designer)
- Presentation: Grégory Wagheneim is a graphic designer who has developed a laser mapping project exploring our fascination with space. His work converts sound into projected images, creating immersive visual compositions.
- Needs: New distribution channels and new opportunities for collaboration (institutions/artists).
Project n°5: Toys in Space presented by Nicolas D’Ascenzio (Creative Director, Super Idée)
- Presentation: Nicolas D’Ascenzio, Creative Director at Super Idée, has developed an immersive collection/exhibition entitled “Toys in Space”. This Metz-based creative project pays tribute to three NASA space missions, and aims to interpret these missions through digital artworks dedicated to children. The exhibition reinterprets toys used by astronauts in space to conduct experiments, offering an artistic and educational perspective on space science.
- Needs: Super Idée is looking for co-producers to help produce new toys/works and establish partnerships, notably with NASA. They are also looking for opportunities to disseminate the exhibition, either piece by piece, or as a whole, with the aim of re-engaging children with science, particularly ecological and space themes. Around ten dates are planned between 2024 and 2025 in France and abroad.
Project n°6: Installation on the Sun presented by Guillaume Marmin (Visual artist)
- Presentation: Visual artist Guillaume Marmin has developed an immersive installation inspired by a meeting with an astrophysicist from the Meudon Observatory, who specializes in solar observation. The project includes a bank of solar images, obtained using telescopic machines and updated every 10 minutes to provide near-real-time animation. The installation, designed to be a physical experience, combines scientific and artistic elements to explore the evolution of the sun over a century.
- Needs: Guillaume Marmin is looking to disseminate this installation and create emotional connections between people through this shared experience.
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm Conference – Encouraging the emergence of talent and structuring creative, cultural and artistic projects – some experience feedback
Most art centers dedicated to digital creation are not only venues for distribution, but also for residency, experimentation and acceleration of artistic projects.
This is the case, for example, with the Cube. Located in Garches-Les Gonesses, the site is defined as a 10,000m2 cultural innovation hub with a wide variety of spaces: exhibition, performance and cinema halls, a media library, a fablab, recording studios and workshops. With these facilities, our teams are able to offer programming at the crossroads of artistic and digital practices, offering a wide range of activities around contemporary art, creative workshops, artistic training, access to culture and digital fabrication.
Clément Thibault, Le Cube’s Director of Visual and Digital Arts, presented a series of exhibitions and experiments carried out in situ, with the aim of producing, distributing or growing them. Le Cube is a 10,000 m2 cultural innovation center, comprising two exhibition halls, a cinema and, soon, an immersive auditorium. It is positioned at the intersection of art and technology, with the aim of opening up art to the public.
The digital arts acculturation strategy of this venue, located in a context of large housing estates devoid of established institutions, is to transform the relationship between the public and art. This translates into situated mediations such as multilingual audio guides and artistic residencies focused on co-creation with the local community. Le Cube applies a voluntary pricing policy, facilitating access with reduced rates for cinema and live performance, as well as free admission to exhibitions. These educational initiatives welcome over 700 students and 1,000 children each year for educational programs and digital DIY workshops.
Other venues dedicated to the performing arts are also developing experimental programs at the crossroads of the arts and sciences. Jonathan Thonon, Deputy General Manager in charge of European projects and innovation at the Théâtre de Liège in Belgium, spoke about a number of arts/science projects developed recently in collaboration with a wide range of players (companies, laboratories, artists, venues, etc.). Since 2006, the theater has been recognized as a European Center for Theatrical and Choreographic Creation. It recently launched an international program, IMPACT, focusing on collaboration between the arts, science and technology. Based on case studies, Jonathan presented how this arts/science/technology creative hub has been structured to stimulate cross-sector innovation in a cluster of 3 countries, 3 languages, 5 cultures and over 4 million inhabitants.
As experimentation shows, digital arts are increasingly intersecting with other fields of cultural creation, such as music, theater, heritage mediation, fine arts, technological training, and even advanced sciences. This convergence has led to the emergence of hybrid venues that integrate digital art formats into their programming. Two concrete examples will illustrate this trend during the conference:
- the MediaLab program of l’Arche in Villerupt, Grand Est: Julien Floria, Director of L’Arche in Villerupt, launched in March 2022 an essential “tool” venue for the European Capital of Culture, offering an integrated platform for creation, training and support. This venue aims to catalyze the transition to digital arts by hosting a variety of creative players, enabling ongoing experimentation and innovative collaboration. A striking example is the Macrobiome du Cheval Vert project, supported by the region Grand Est, which combines art and science to raise public awareness, transforming visits into an interactive and educational exploration.
- and the Pali PaliEdouard Meier, Director of Pali Pali (Brussels, Belgium), presented their initiative to create hybrid spaces to accelerate artistic, cultural and social projects. Pali Pali supports around 500 organizations, including digital artists in residence, attracting up to 400,000 spectators a year. They collaborate with public authorities to transform spaces such as a merry-go-round with the ACTVL company during events like Bright Brussels, attracting 400,000 visitors in 4 days. Despite technical challenges in atypical venues such as shopping malls, they manage efficiently with one technical director for 5 sites, offering unprecedented distribution possibilities for contemporary digital creation.
These various “third places”, “with their multiple spaces and intertwined vocations”, combine innovative artistic proposals with more traditional practices, with a focus on social and regional development objectives.
Rich in their diversity, these different venues make their teams, expertise, networks, spaces and resources available to artists to create creative and innovative projects. These approaches, which are often exploratory, encourage the emergence of ambitious artistic projects, but are also confronted with a range of issues and obstacles, which this meeting put into perspective before tackling, by way of opening, the challenges of disseminating and transmitting such works to a wide audience.
3:30-4pm – Presenter pitches – festivals / venues
Festivals play an essential role in this dissemination, both among professionals (see the HACNUM article Un marché des arts numériques (enfin) structuré?) and the general public. With this in mind, various representatives of digital arts festivals presented their positions, challenges and future projects.
The Strasbourg festival Ososphère will be presented by Thierry Danet, Director of Artefact. Born in Strasbourg in 1998, this cultural event was initiated by the creators of La Laiterie, a contemporary music venue, to explore new artistic forms. L’Ososphère has developed a program of actions around digital cultures that unfolds over time and in the urban space of Strasbourg: electronic nights, exhibitions, art trails, screenings, concerts, sound cruises, workshops, conversations and radio.
Mathieu Vabre, Co-director and Artistic Director of Seconde Nature and Zinc in Marseille, presented the Biennale des Imaginaires Numériques Chronicles.
Initiated with a dozen partners in the south of France, this festival offers innovative programming combining visual arts, sound arts and live performance. In 2023, over 80 artists have been invited on the theme of night, while in 2024, the festival will explore pleasure in relation to the recommendation and personalization algorithms inherent in new technologies. Presented as a biennial, the event will run from November 7, 2024 to January 20, 2025.
The Scopitone Festival will be presented by Anne-Laure Belloc, Director of Arts & Digital Cultures at Stereolux in Nantes. Organized by Stereolux, the festival is an international event dedicated to electronic culture and the digital arts. It attracts between 25,000 and 50,000 festival-goers, depending on the format, and showcases some sixty artists through concerts and performances, artistic creations and installations, conferences/workshops and b-to-b meetings, and proposals specifically dedicated to young audiences.
Finally, Julien Pavillard, Director of Events for the City of Lyon and general coordinator of the Festival of Lights presented the challenges of the next edition of Lyon’s famous cultural event.
In recent years, the digital arts have gradually spread to a wide audience in France and abroad, thanks to the mobilization of large-scale events, festivals and arts centers. This proliferation is also largely fueled by the creative vitality generated by a variety of venues, programs, events, festivals and teaching structures at the forefront of experimentation and creativity on a territorial, national and international level. This one-day event will highlight all these dynamics of transmission.
The next edition of RICCI will take place in Épinal, from October 14 to 16. Register now!
