Justine Emard - Photo credit: Quentin Chevrier

Having become a must-read on technology associated with the art of our time, the French artist Justine Emard exhibits his works worldwide. His installations explore and create new relationships between organic life and IA. To push back the boundaries and consider new perspectives of coexistence in our world. Appointed artistic director of the French pavilion at the next Universal Exhibition in Osaka (from April 2025), Justine came to testify on the stage of We Are French Touch 2024. We met her on this occasion.

French Touch: We know you wear several hats, from artistic director to professor, you also write in research journals... How did art come to be the first choice in this interdisciplinary journey?

Justine Emard: I never really asked myself the question of becoming an artist, it imposed itself on me. I always wanted to create, to invent, and that is what naturally led me to art studies. But these studies were too narrow for me, because I wanted to practice all the doctor, like music and dance. This need to explore everything pushed me to seek a “total art”, to go beyond images to explore new frontiers, like mental images linked to neuroscience, memories or dreams. My work is a constant quest, almost like that of a researcher, but it was never a conscious choice. I always knew that I wanted to do this.

FT: What led you to create this artistic approach? Was there an event, a work, a meeting?

I : There have been several defining moments in my career, experiences that go back a long way, sometimes even to childhood, and that have matured over the years. But a turning point was my discovery of the scientific field of artificial life, which explores the simulation of life and natural systems. This resonated deeply with my interest in simulating reality and led me to work with robots and machines, focusing on embodiment: how software can animate a material form and what experience results from it. This approach marked a shift in my work, which has moved from image and 3D creations to collaborative artistic and scientific experiments. These works, which I call boundary objects, can be presented in museums as well as in scientific conferences. A key moment in this process was my meeting in 2016 with Takashi Ikegami, a professor at the University of Tokyo, who has deeply influenced my current explorations.

FT: Can you explain, through a simple example or one of your early works, how you combine data to create a work that questions our relationships with life?

I : I can take the example of “Co(AI)xistence”, a work created in a laboratory with a humanoid robot and a dancer-actor. This work illustrates my approach well: to compose with reality and the present, while leaving a part of improvisation and freedom. The heart of “Co(AI)xistence” lay in the encounter between the robot, a form of primitive intelligence imitating neural connections, and the human who interacted with it. Although I had planned precise interactions with sensors and voice, it is in improvisation that the work found its beauty. For me, improvisation is essential, because it gives a sensitive existence to machines, beyond their utilitarian function. It opens up poetic perspectives and allows us to overcome technological prejudices. This project was also a human experience, bringing together scientists and students around this machine, showing that technology can be a pretext for encounter. Finally, I would like to re-establish a more complex vision of artificial intelligence, too often reduced to a simple tool.IA is much richer and allows us to explore new fields. Contrary to the clichés which oppose nature and IA, I see these two elements as complementary, together revealing unexpected forms of beauty and complexity.

Co(AI)existence - JUSTINE EMARD - © Adagp photo by Mike Patten

FT: Exactly, how can we reconcile nature and IA that we often oppose?

I : For me, opposing artificial intelligence and nature makes no sense, because everything, including what humans build, is part of nature. Generative algorithms allow us to observe the world differently, by processing data that humans could not analyze, thus pushing the limits of our understanding. For example, in my installation Supraorganism, inspired by the organization of bees, I used data collected in a hive to train an AI capable of recognizing and analyzing their behaviors. This information animated a light installation, giving the impression of a living organism. It is this mixture of biomimicry and artificial learning, reactive to human presence, that creates a work where nature and technology come together.

FT: How do you perceive your place in contemporary art in the face of the return of the figurative?

I : My work consists of making immaterial elements visible, notably through the signal, which I consider as a raw material for creation. I transform these signals into works, as in my installations using neurofeedback where the viewer's brain interacts directly with the work. For example, I created sculptures from brain recordings of astronauts' dreams, a fascinating way of materializing intangible data from space. This approach also raises questions: when we work with computational tools, such as machine learning, are we inventing or discovering? For me, these creations are no less true than reality, they offer another form of truth, a new vision of the world. By collaborating with fields such as neuroscience or the CNES, I find it exciting that science and art can intersect to produce works that become the fruit of joint research.

FT: Do you think that the interest in you is explained by your position at the crossroads of disciplines, such as cognitive sciences, which are currently generating a lot of interest, and by your ability to make this complex knowledge more accessible?

I : Since 2010, I have been interested in the simulation of reality, with augmented reality installations or video games, at a time when digital technology was not yet well received in the artistic community, especially in France. My work does not seek to illustrate scientific theories or to use technology without respect for fundamental research. I am anchored in an approach that deeply understands research while remaining connected to reality, far from dystopian science fiction stories. From my first projects with robots in 2016, despite still limited technologies, my goal was to reflect contemporary issues. I believe that this approach, where art dialogues with science without fantasies or excessive fascination, partly explains the interest in my work.

3 works by Justine Emard

1/ Supraorganism

"The essence of this installation lies in the presence of a perceptible organism, creating its own space-time where a form of life seems to communicate, move and evolve. It translates the movement of life, sometimes programmed to provide a framework, but also leaving room for the unexpected, which makes the experience surprising. The installation, although abstract, is based on machine learning work inspired by a swarm of bees, while opening up a space to the imagination of the spectators. Blown glass, used for its optical and sound qualities, plays a central role, projecting animated reflections and vibrating under the effect of the strikers, thus giving new life to this material frozen by programming. This installation adapts and dialogues with the places where it is exhibited, transforming the space through light and sound. Some examples: at the Abbaye aux Dames in Caen, its reflections illuminated the white stone, while in a former coal factory, it mingled with darkness and machines. In a museum in Brussels, it evoked an aquatic space, and in a deconsecrated church in Italy, it was even perceived as mystical, embodying a divine dimension according to some spectators. Each place creates a new staging through architecture, materials, and acoustics, adding unique meanings. The work also took the form of a sound concert in collaboration with a composer, exploring yet other dimensions. By evolving and adapting in this way, it almost becomes a living entity that sometimes escapes me.

Supraorganism Justine Emard © Adagp, Paris 2021 - photo by Caroline Lessire

2/ Hyperphantasia

“This work explores the origin and representation of mental images, drawing inspiration from “aphantasia,” a rare neurological deficit that causes an inability to mentally visualize. Hyperphantasia suggests the opposite: the representation of highly realistic mental images. The work connects two origins of the image: humanity’s earliest parietal representations, such as those in the Chauvet Cave, and the pixels generated by modern technologies. Using machine learning models trained on images from the Chauvet Cave, dated 38 years ago, the installation creates a dynamic video fresco that reimagines these early traces. This work integrates the vibrations of the paintings animated by the light of prehistoric torches, almost evoking a primitive cinema, as well as sound elements theoretically present at the time. The installation juxtaposes the randomness of machine-generated images with human perception, where phenomena such as pareidolia transform signals into recognizable forms. It thus recomposes the universe of the cave, connecting the first technologies of visual representation to those of today in a visual and sensory narration. Another source of images is added. It comes from the human brain, it is the 000D printing of 3 dreams of astronauts identified during their stay in the international space station. Hyperphantasia traces a double spatio-temporal line, connecting the depths of the caves to the space station, and prehistory to the contemporary era. The links between caves and space are at the heart of the work: caves, like space, are complex environments where time, light, and landmarks are transformed, and where exploration and technology intersect. A strong analogy between cave and brain also structures the installation, enriched by a sound composition based on recordings of human neuronal crackles, recreating an atmosphere where images and sounds merge to represent a unique mental landscape.

Hyperphantasia - The origins of the image © Justine Emard _ Le fresnoy _ adagp paris 2022

3/ Chim(AI)ra

“This third work is an installation combining video games and sculptures, created as part of my position as a visiting professor-artist at Le Fresnoy. The work is structured around 12 chimeras, avatars generated from 3D models found online, exploring the idea of ​​a digital collective memory. These chimeras evolve in an interactive digital ecosystem where the activity of the computer's graphics card directly influences the atmosphere of the game. The player embodies the chimeras in an initially red and unbreathable world, where the computer heats up under the load. The goal of the game is to gradually simplify the visual layers, moving from detailed textures to black and white images, until the graphics card is completely lightened and the ecosystem cools down, making the world of the chimeras more habitable. The project also includes 3D sculptures representing the chimeras, petrified in a natural spring. This process symbolizes an interaction between digital and nature, where nature reclaims its rights over these imaginary creatures. With a playful and humorous approach, Chim(AI)ra » questions the links between technology, ecology and collective memory. »

Chim[AI]ra © Justine Emard - Le Fresnoy _1014728