The international conference ‘Contemporary Art and the French Riviera: An experimental territory, 1951-2011’ sets out to launch and a reflection on contemporary art in a given territory, i.e. the French Riviera, from the end of the Second World War to nowadays. The goal is to understand for what reasons the French Riviera has been for the last 60 years an extraordinary laboratory which has been ceaselessly producing and welcoming new artists. What is expected from the papers and plenary sessions is a discussion going beyond the usual temporary or generic landmarks in order to describe and dissect the panorama of an artistic production placed under the sign of experimentation.

This conference is organized in the framework of the exceptional exhibition ‘Contemporary Art and the French Riviera: An experimental territory, 1951-2011’ which is curated by the 20th-century national museums of the Alpes-Maritimes, by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice, by the Jean Cocteau Museum of Menton, by the Château de Villeneuve, by the Emile Hugues Foundation of Vence and by the national centre of contemporary art of the Villa Arson.

-Announcement-
The international and interdisciplinary conference constitutes then another high point of this cultural manifestation.

Trying to broaden the usual aesthetic categories, this conference will seek to study thoroughly the question of artistic experimentation in the context of the French Riviera and from a historical, sociological and anthropological perspective.

The various axes of reflection and interventions will favour a cross-disciplinary approach and take into account both the national and international contexts to tackle the main issues of experimental art in the French Mediterranean environment.

Axis 1 : Cultural belonging and identity
The scholars are invited to question the relevance of a possible cultural identity of this territory, its hypothetical specificities and the ambivalent notion of belonging.
The same question could be raised and tackled in the context of other territories of experimentation.

Axis 2 : Institutions, structures and networks of diffusion
This axis will cover the development of the structures of artistic diffusion and will deal with the ways in which a generation of artists managed to conquer the territory of the French Riviera independently of any institution.

Axis 3 : Practices of/and experimentations
This axis will encourage discussions of several aspects highlighted in the manifestation ‘L’Art contemporain et la Côte d’Azur’ : the notions of attitude art, of the art of gesture, of sound practices, of self-referentiality, of figuration or selfrepresentation.
Il can also include problems of experimentation in the fields of town planning, architecture, music, dance drama and poetry at the same time in the same place.

Axis 4 : Transmission and reception
What could be studied in the framework of this axis is the question of the legacy of the avantgardes, of the possible kinship with the following generations, and of the reception of the various forms of contemporary art in this specific territory.

-Doctorial session-
We wish to inform our contributors that a socalled doctorial session will be held in order for our doctoral students to be able to contribute in any of the aforementioned four axes.

-Paper proposals-
The paper proposals (1500 signs maximum in French, English or Italian) should be sent with a summary (from 250 to 300 words), a bibliography and a short biographical note should be sent before March 31, 2011 to colloque.acetcagmail.com.

They will be examined anonymously by a committee including university teachers, museum curators, art commissioners, critics and art historians.

The participants will be informed of the committee’s decisions at the end of the month of April.

A publication of the acts (with an editorial board) is also planned.

In addition to the various papers, the final programme will also include plenary sessions with such leading figures of contemporary art as Christophe Kihm, Laurent Jeanpierre et Denys Riout – also artists.

Following the academic rules the presentations will not be paid for.

-Scientific committee-
The international and interdisciplinary conference is organized by the association ‘l’Art Contemporain et la Côte d’Azur’ and by the following research laboratories of the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis: CIRCPLES, CRHI, CTEL,
I3M, LASMIC, RITM.

Composition of the committee:
Elza Adamowicz, Queen Mary University of London,
Jean-Marc Avrilla, Independent Commisioner,
Célia Bernasconi, Curator of the Museum Jean Cocteau in Menton,
Béatrice Bonhomme, Professor, Head of the CTEL (Centre Transdisciplinaire d’Épistémologie de la Littérature),
Michèle Brun, Attaché in charge of the preservation of patrimony for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice,
Pierre Coullet, First Vice president of the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis,
Ariane Coulondre, Curator of the Museum Fernand Léger in Biot,
Ghislaine Del Rey, department of the Arts, member of the CRHI,
Annick Fiaschi-Dubois, Senior Lecturer, department of the arts (Musicology), member of the CTEL,
Maurice Fréchuret, Curator of the Twentieth-Century National Museums of the Alpes-Maritimes,
Eric Gasperini, Vice president of the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis (in charge of Cultural Affairs),
Christian Gutleben, Professor, member of the CIRCPLES,
Philippe Jansen, Professor of Medieval History, Head of the Doctoral School of the Humanities at the University
of Nice-Sophia Antipolis,
Laurent Jeanpierre, Senior Lecturer in political science at the University of Strasbourg, contributor to Art press,
02, Particules, Critique, Fresh Théorie, L’Inactuel,
Christophe Kihm, Philosopher, contributor to Artpress, independent commissioner, art critic and lecturer at the Haute École d’Art et de Design de Genève,
Sylvano Levy, University of Hull,
Eric Mangion, Director of the National Centre of Contemporary Art of the Villa Arson,
Zia Mirabdolbaghi, Directeur du Château de Villeneuve / Fondation Emile Hugues, à Vence,
Pascal Neveu, Director of the FRAC PACA (Fonds régional d’art contemporain Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur).
François Paris, Director of the CIRM - Centre National de Création Musicale,
Gilbert Perlein, Curator of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice,
Jean-Baptiste Pisano, Senior Lecturer, member of the LASMIC
Paul Rasse, Professor, Head of I3M (Laboratoire Informations milieux médias médiations),
Carole Talon-Hugon, Professor Head of the CRHI (Laboratoire de Philosophie),
Jean-Pierre Triffaux, Professor, departement of the Arts (Drama), member of the RITM.

-Organisation committee-
Ariane Coulondre, Curator of the National Museum Fernand Léger in Biot,
Annick Fiaschi-Dubois, Senior Lecturer, department of the arts (Musicology), member of the CTEL,
Christian Gutleben, Professor, member of the CIRCPLES,
Céline Masoni Lacroix, Senior Lecturer, member of I3M,
Diane Pigeau, Coordinator of the manifestation ‘L’Art contemporain et la Côte d’Azur’ and freelance curator
Paul Rasse, Professor, Head of I3M (Laboratoire Informations milieux médias médiations),
Marcin Sobieszczanski, Maître de conférences, chercheur au laboratoire I3M
Jean-Pierre Triffaux, Professor, departement of the Arts (Drama), member of the RITM.