Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique-Musique

In 1969 Georges Pompidou initiated the establishment of the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (Institute for music/acoustic research and coordination) entrusting its direction to the composer and conductor Pierre Boulez. IRCAM became, and remains today, the only center of its kind across the globe, dedicated to contemporary musical research and production and linked to the Centre Pompidou. Initially the project of one man, Pierre Boulez, composer, conductor and author of several works, the project to create IRCAM incarnated the utopian aspirations and aesthetic conceptions of its founder. His objective was to bring science and art together in order to widen instrumentarium and rejuvenate musical language. In the late 1970’s IRCAM offered the most advanced reflection into computer music in the world. With the arrival of Laurent Bayle in 1992, the institution opened its doors to new artistic forms and worked at attracting a larger public, notably via the establishment of the Agora festival. What’s more, anticipating the importance of the network, the Forum went online enabling IRCAM’s know-how to be accessed across the entire globe. Since 2002, the philosopher Bernard Stiegler has taken over IRCAM’s direction, reaffirming the primary vocation of the institute: the coordination between research and creation. Seeking to renew relations between art and science, IRCAM’s project has both feet firmly based in contemporary questions such as the links between cultural industries and creation. Strongly supported by the presence of composers and artists invited to dialogue with the scientific teams, IRCAM contributes to debates incited by current issues, whether theoretical, musical, aesthetical or political.In CASPAR, IRCAM leads the Contemporary Arts Testbed work package