Jean-Paul Fourmentraux, born in Fez, Morocco, in 1970, lives and works in Paris (France) and in Montreal (Canada). Jean-Paul Fourmentraux is a sociologist (PHD) at the National Center of the Scientific Research (France: CNRS) and in the School of the High Studies in Social Sciences (Paris: EHESS). Co-author of two research reports for the Plastic Arts Delegation to the french Ministry of Culture: Visual Culture and group art on the web (1999), Between the artist and the computer scientist: a space of arbitration, translation, negotiation, (2001). Author of various articles on digital art for the publications Solaris (2000), Sociology of Art (2002), Archée (2003-04), Ligeia and Leonardo (2003), Reseaux (2004).

New book:
Art and Internet. New forms of creation, 2005,
CNRS, Paris, France. ISBN: 2-271-06353-1

New research:
Innovative Artists
From artistic research to technological innovation

The process of technological innovation heralds the reconfiguration of the organization of research in the media arts. The imperatives of innovation and creativity have become the driving force for industry-transferable research and creation. In this context, “artistic talent” is a highly sought-after resource that is actively encouraged,. so much so that the identity and roles of contemporary artists are being transformed: no longer only creators, they are expected to be researchers and entrepreneurs, experts in the “new economy.” Although wagering on these new “workers” may be politically correct, the relationship between artistic creativity and innovation remains problematic.

At present, new forms of consortiums are created to foster innovative “research and creation” that has the potential to generate spinoffs and added value, not only from an artistic perspective, but a scientific and industrial one as well. Such alliances are difficult to establish: first because the interdisciplinary hybrid known as “research and creation” lacks a stable identity; second, because the products created are not distributed under the same conditions or through the same channels as traditional art or more conventional scientific research; and lastly, because of the uncertainty surrounding the scope and longevity of such initiatives. This is linked to the absence of explicit demand that would enable this segment to perpetuate itself socially, recruit practitioners, and provide career opportunities, as well as to the lack of assurances regarding the development and/or commercial potential of what it produces outside the artistic community. The new “artistic organizations,” which are supposed to promote research and creation with social spinoffs, do not easily fit with the old organizational models in place in academia and industry. As a result, the economy of “research and creation” requires a reconfiguration of organizational management in these establishments, but also a redefinition of the positions, workers, tools, works, and knowledge to be covered.

Fourmentraux's research combines an analysis of these concepts, which are at once social utopias and hypotheses on the transformation of industrial societies, with an empirical examination of this sector of activity in Europe and Canada (Montreal). The analysis is based on a survey of entrepreneurs, researchers and artists moving between arts organizations, institutional research labs and the business world.