Chroniques 2024 – First edition of Marché des Imaginaires Numériques (MIN): Marseille, European digital crossroads

At the beginning of November in Marseille, some 1,300 professionals from the cultural and creative industries (ICC) gathered for the launch of the Chroniques Bienniale, marked by the inauguration of the new Marché des Imaginaires Numériques (MIN), an event dedicated to the changes brought about by digital creation. So, how did the first edition of the MIN turn out?

On November 7 and 8, the Friche la Belle de mai resounded less with the Marseilles accent than usual. And with good reason, as hundreds of professionals from the four corners of the globe gathered for a new meeting format at the heart of Chroniques, one of France’s must-attend digital creation events. A laboratory for experimentation, the Marché des Imaginaires Numériques (MIN) was conceived as a hybrid space, combining round tables, masterclasses, pitches and demonstrations by CCI companies. “We wanted to vary the formats and cross sectoral, structural and local themes,” explains Céline Berthoumieux, co-director of Chroniques, underlining the ambition of a program that is both global and grounded.

Cover : Chroniques, Biennale des Imaginaires Numériques 2024, Realities in Transition case study

Le Marché des Imaginaires Numériques: Exploring disruptive innovations

The aim of such a menu? To enable everyone – artists, producers, creative technologists or cultural project managers – to pick and choose from themes in line with their current concerns. Unsurprisingly, generative AI took center stage over the two days, with two round-table discussions: “Disruptive innovation: has AI broken the game?” and “Generative AI: the illusion of autonomous creation?“ These discussions brought together experts such as Tomislav Pokrajčić (AI engineer), Hugo Scurto (researcher and artist), Coline Teboul (intellectual property lawyer) and Arta Agani (director of the National Gallery of Kosovo), who highlighted several issues specific to the creative sectors: the integration of AI into artistic processes, the need to protect creators’ rights, the need to structure appropriate training courses, or the deconstruction of media discourse around AI. Anne Le Gall, Managing Director of TMNlab, also shed light on the constitution of datasets and their rarity in certain performing arts fields such as dance. An observation that reminds us of the heterogeneity of the challenges posed by AI across artistic disciplines, and the need to approach these transformations with nuance and precision.

Several workshops took a technical approach to exploring the digital tools available on the market. Belgian artist Ethel Lilienfeld, whose remarkable work EMI (on a virtual influence) features in the Aix-en-Provence itinerary, shared her approach to discovering GenAI and integrating it into her practice. Other presentations offered complementary perspectives: artist Maxime Touroute led a workshop on sharing software originally developed for artistic projects and now adopted by cultural structures. Shandor Chury, founder of OVVO Studio, offered a masterclass dedicated to TouchDesigner, a must-have for real-time creation.

A panorama of international creation

One of the distinctive features of MIN is undoubtedly its cultural mix. This is reflected first and foremost in the cosmopolitan nature of the participants, who hail from Europe, North America and Africa. The Institut français, which organized a delegation for Chroniques, brought together “24 professionals from 21 countries: directors, curators, festival programmers – all of whom came to exchange ideas and meet key players in the sector”, explains Hannah Loué, project manager in the digital and audiovisual creation department. An international dimension, fully embraced by Céline Berthoumieux: “We wanted to create a veritable global village, with a vibrant, rich and multicultural market at its center.”

And quite logically, international audiences meant international programming. Starting with pitch sessions, including one orchestrated by the Institut français, which highlighted structures that are still not very visible from the French-speaking world: the Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen, the Onassis Foundation in Greece, B’Sarya in Egypt and the Dnipro Center for Contemporary Culture in Ukraine. This first edition also featured works from Africa. These included the XR creation by Ona Stories, directed by Princely Glorious (Tanzania), and the work exploring Robben Island prison, by Steve Kwena Mokwena (South Africa). “These artists use the tools of XR to create spaces, safe places, where it becomes possible to revisit essential political questions such as identity or decolonialism,” explains Emmanuel Vergès, moderator of a round table on the subject, in a video posted on LinkedIn. “It’s a political approach, a way of producing new narratives and promoting alternative postures.”

Transforming the way we think about heritage

These virtual spaces and narratives also invested urban spaces, with part of the program dedicated to heritage issues through numerous feedbacks. Mathieu Rolland, Project Director for the Orange Group, presented Éternelle Notre-Dame, an XR project that received a certain amount of media coverage. Jérémie Bellot, founder of AV Extended, artistic director of the Constellations festival and originator of the Château de Beaugency project, shared his vision of mapping projections in public spaces, illustrating the dialogue between heritage and digital innovation. At the same time, a lecture by Ben Miller, professor and researcher at Emory University in the U.S., offered a unique perspective. In a 90-minute workshop, this AI specialist questioned the way we write and observe public spaces. With a critical and analytical approach, he demonstrated how generative AI can enrich the design of cities, reinterpreting urban design to open them up to new uses and new narrative dimensions.

These discussions directly echo the installations presented in Aix-en-Provence on November 8 and 9, also as part of Chroniques. For example, Diyauto Orchestra by Simon Lazarus, S8jfou and Clara Rigaud, a mapping in the Chapelle des Andrettes, or Écrin by the famous 1024 Architecture. In the latter work, installed on Place de la Rotonde, Aix-en-Provence’s masterful fountain was staged using 16 laser beams visible from different vantage points, bringing together several thousand residents on this iconic city square.

Discover alternative XR projects

MIN participants also had the opportunity to discover several VR/AR works presented as part of the biennial. In addition to the work of 7 Canadian artists (Baron Lanteigne, Caroline Gagné, François Quévillon, Laurent Lévesque & Olivier Henley, Olivia McGilchrist and Sabrina Ratté), Boris Labbé‘s work particularly stood out. Ito Meikyū (Venice Immersive Grand Prix) transports participants into a fascinating labyrinth. Inspired by Japanese art history and literature, this VR experience immerses the audience in abstract architectures: fractals inhabited by teeming flora and fauna, human figures, patterns and calligraphy, revealing a dreamlike universe. A stone’s throw from La Friche, at the Couvent Levat, iconoclastic XR artist Adelin Schweitzer unveiled Le Test de Sutherland. Presented to cultural professionals, this AR work in progress hints at a new experience of an “altered state of consciousness”.

Fresh ideas, stimulating encounters and dozens of digital works scattered in every nook and cranny of La Friche and beyond… Under these conditions, the first edition of the Marché des Imaginaires Numériques can be qualified as a success. But does that mean we can look forward to another edition in 2026? “We’re ending this MIN with one conviction: whether it’s for the public or professionals, everyone leaves delighted and inspired. In the future, the formula will surely evolve, but the desire to repeat the experience is there,” asserts Céline Berthoumieux. In the meantime, one thing’s for sure: in the digital creation community, MIN already has the wind in its sails!