Since 2005, the AIAC research laboratory (EA 4010) and its three teams, EPHA (Aesthetics, Practice and History of Art), TEAMeD (Theory and Experimentation in Arts, Media and Design) and INREV (Digital Image and Virtual Reality) have set their own projects and goals linked, however, by one common theme: contemporary art and the role of the image in all of its forms. The three teams apply both theory-based and experimental methods in the field of image creation, particularly examining photography, media and digital technologies.

A theoretical approach, drawing on philosophy, history and anthropology, is accompanied by a strong output of contemporary art practice, which can take the form of research-creation specially developed alongside the EDESTA Doctoral School. This fusion of ‘research in art and research through art’ is one of the laboratory’s founding principles.

AIAC now leads group research projects based on the following cross-disciplinary themes, shared by the three teams, EPHA, TEAMeD and INREV:

Cross-disciplinary themes:

• Archaeology of the contemporary 

The first theme deals with archive conservation for contemporary and digital art. The topic of archives is now of increasing relevance, due to the proliferation of storage devices and our desire to record everything. This theme focuses on revisiting the status of the document and building a new perspective of what constitutes tangible and intangible heritage.

• Worlds, transmissions and displacement 

The second theme explores the importance of the mobility of actors, the movement of subjects, works, information, and their transformative influence on creative processes. This decentralised and delocalised art world gives rise to different forms of cultural hybridisation.

AIAC leads a number of research programmes in France and abroad supported by groups and associations, including the EUR ArTeC European Research School and Paris Lumières University following on from LABEX Arts H2H (2011-2018) and IDEFI CréaTIC (2013-2019). The laboratory also conducts research at Campus Condorcet and at the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (French Art History Institute).