Round Table 1
Towards a new era in art?

New artists' ventures, often linked to original spaces, are now multiplying around cross-disciplinary encounters and alternative attitudes to time, space and the end goals of the creative art process. The notion of process plays a preponderant role in all of this.
What are the aesthetic motivations behind these projects? Do they contain the germ of a new definition of art, of the status of artists, of their works, and of their function in society? Is it a genuine transformation or just a fashionable trend?

Workshop 1
Beginnings, formalisation
and renewal of projects

The current emergence and multiplication of “unconventional artistic structures” are deeply linked to cultural and urban contexts. In what conditions do these projects emerge, and who are their founders? How can recognition be given to the existence of these initiatives? How can their long-term existence be ensured, handing on the spirit of the places after their foundation, once the initial passions have passed?

Workshop 2
Artistic value:
between institution, art market
and cultural industry

How may a project's right to artistic experimentation be recognised, without it conforming to the standards of the market or the institution? What types of artistic values and what original criteria define them? What are the new scales of reference?

Workshop 3
Architectures of artistic creation:
lasting structures and nomadic forms

These initiatives are often torn between the search for fertile roots in a fixed place and the appreciation of nomadic forms of artistic creation. What desires bring artists to move into these off-beat, often marginalized places? How do the architectural and symbolic characteristics of the spaces they occupy nourish their inspiration and their artistic choices? How can we envisage the sometimes ephemeral artistic presence in areas?

Workshop 4
Areas for reinventing work
and social relationships

The relationship with work is central to these projects. It is perhaps experienced differently, particularly in terms of pace, relations and contents. How can cultural or artistic work enable people to acquire expertise or training? In this respect, do these experiments not lead to questioning the nature and end goals of work in itself? Does cultural commitment help to reconstruct behaviour, particularly for individuals whose backgrounds are marked by instability?