Alexandre Gurita
Invisual Artist. Director of the Paris Biennale and ENDA (National Art School of Paris).
He is at the origin of the concept of « invisual art, » which defines a genre of art existing in forms other than artworks. Invisual art is the new paradigm of art since the Renaissance, by considering that the artwork is just one format among others and not the only possible one. Invisual art is seen as a risky but credible perspective for 21st-century art and beyond. The artist explores concepts such as « institutional capture, » « critical institution, » « transversal economy, » « multimodality, » « water strategy, » « asymmetry, » and « macro-critique. » Alexandre Gurita actively collaborates with other professionals to promote a new vision of art, free from limiting beliefs inherited from the past. The artist views the art system as a format. By freeing itself from the visual art monopoly and the apparent certainty that if art is not visual, it does not exist, invisual art relativizes the notion of art. He has given lectures and led workshops at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Yale University, Apexart, Queens Museum of Art, School of Visual Art (SVA), Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA), Grand Palais, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Palais de Tokyo, and Paris 1 Sorbonne. Quotes by Alexandre Gurita: « Art is the art of art. », « Art is the shortcut between the impossible and the essential. », « We have no serious evidence that art depends on the artwork and for this reason we can assume the opposite. », « Thinking about art is dangerous; being thought by it is fatal. »
Ricardo Mbarkho
Invisual artist. Assistant Professor, Director of Research, and Director of the Research and Creation Center at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA, University of Balamand). Active contributor to the Paris Biennale. Initiator of Paris Biennale in Beirut and Atelier de Recherche et de Création Art Invisuel (ARCAI) / Centre for Research and Creation, (ALBA – University of Balamand) in Beirut.
He explores and theorizes the aesthetic, economic, political, and social conditions and measures of an art that frees itself from the idea of the artwork, the public, and the context; a post-immaterial art: without material or immaterial objects. In an ideal type, it is a research-creation of an art without art, where the medium of artistic practice becomes the socioeconomic model itself. In 1998, he met Alexandre Gurita at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris (ENSBA). Together, they experimented with new artistic approaches that later became known as invisual art, a genre of art that today includes a number of artists and institutions worldwide. Some experimental invisual projects include: « Pierre Yves Fave Open Doors, » « Autoexposition, » « Everyone has art what art has of itself, » « Paris West Coast, » « Installation of a Radiator, » and « Association for the Intellectual Property of the Self. » Ricardo Mbarkho holds a Ph.D. from Sorbonne Paris Nord University; his thesis focuses on the transformations of cultural industries into creative industries, with a particular focus on an in-depth study of media arts. He is also a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Architecture at the Lebanese University in Beirut, the École Supérieure d’Études Cinématographiques in Paris (ESEC), and the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris (ENSBA) after studying new media arts at the School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States. The artist has given lectures and conducted workshops at institutions such as Aix Marseille University, ANdEA (Strasbourg), ARS Electronica (Linz), Paris Biennale, National Art School of Paris (ENDA), ENSBA, Jeu de Paume (Paris), MUCEM (Marseille), Transmediale (Berlin), and UNESCO (Paris).
Corina Chutaux Mila
Researcher in art, social sciences, and artificial intelligence. Associated theoretical projects. Organizer of the first International Conference on Invisual Art: Doxa and Paradox (La Sorbonne).
A Ph.D. candidate at the University of Paris-Saclay in digital humanities, she has taught art and literature at Sciences Po and applied computing to the humanities at the Sorbonne. Corina Chutaux Mila wrote the first book on invisual art titled « Esthétique de l’art invisuel », a reference work published in 2021 and launched at Palais de Tokyo in 2022. She organized the first international conference on invisual art, titled « L’art invisuel : doxa et paradoxe », which took place on June 17, 2022, at La Sorbonne. She is deeply interested in post-contemporary art, working with the Paris Biennale on invisual art. Publications: Under the direction of Cristiano Dalpozzo – 2020, The Other Side of the Real: Art and Literature through GAN (Generative Adversarial Network). Mimesis Editions. Corina Chutaux Mila – 2021, Esthétique de l’art invisuel, Éditions du Panthéon. In this book, Corina Chutaux Mila advocates for this emerging concept: she traces the development of the idea of invisual art and encourages reflection on what its aesthetics represent once stripped of its tangible, visible, and speculative aspects.
Sevgi Macide
Multidisciplinary artist.
Actively contributes to the organization of projects initiated by or associated with the Paris Biennale. Sevgi Macide studied architecture while expanding her perspective by working at the intersection of art and architecture, especially concerning the human body. Her work challenges traditional Cartesian notions of space as a static, geometric entity, advocating for a dynamic understanding of space that evolves through interaction with the moving body. She argues that space is not merely a structure or void but a fluid extension of the human body continually redefined and transformed by movement and experience. She has participated in exchange programs in France, Slovenia, and Japan, developing research in various fields. Sevgi Macide gained valuable experience working on scenography and art projects with Mathieu Lorry Dupuy and the Théâtre de l’Odéon and the Théâtre de l’Europe in Paris and Marseille. Her practice is deeply rooted in the concept of space as living memory, engaging with deeper, often unconscious layers of human identity. She aims to prompt viewers to reconsider their understanding of space and identity.
Gary Bigot
Invisual artist. Initiator of the Paris Biennale in Luxembourg.
One of the most active contributor to the Paris Biennale. He considered one of the earliest invisual artists, Gary Bigot develops an artistic approach where everything is made, produced, and installed without any intervention from him. He adopts the following radical statements in 1983: no self-production, no self-promotion, no personal profit, no personal ownership. Since this time, his principle of hygrometry is considered his artwork. Its specific operation reflects each of us—sensitive, productive, knowledgeable, communicative. He considers it his self-portrait or « the portrait of everyone. » This liberating act-position has led him to radically consider that all his works are produced and installed, occurring without his intervention. Producing more was for him superfluous and artistically unworthy. The opening created by this extreme and definitive attitude is unexpected and stimulates reflection and creation. What happens afterward is no longer his concern. He positions himself as an involved observer of his completed but not concluded work. He releases his concept and attitude into freedom and, if external need arises, allows anyone to use it, create works, exhibitions, speeches, etc., even commercialization for their benefit, without his approval! The artist has given lectures at the National Art School of Paris (ENDA), the University of Belval (Luxembourg) and the Lebanese Academy of Art (ALBA). Gary Bigot initiated the Paris Biennale in Luxembourg (2018-2020), which involved an application allowing the public to geo-locate themselves by blowing on a computer or smartphone.
Roxane Vidalon
Researcher in philosophical and invisual art, philosophical artist. Director of IAPI (Institut d’Art Philosophique et Invisuel) – Invisual art residence, theoretical contributions, documentation, training.
Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Aesthetic Research (Philosophy and Psychoanalysis of Art) at the University of Montpellier (France). A graduate of the École nationale d’art de Paris (ENDA), she proposed the establishment of a Line of Research and Experimentation (LDRE) on « Theoretical and Philosophical Foundations of Invisual Art. » Previously, she taught contemporary dance at the Conservatoire de Tarbes (France) before shifting to visual arts (including tattooing and illustration) in 2016. In 2018, she fully committed to the visual arts, deepening her research and continuing her philosophical reflection. Her approach led her to undertake a degree in philosophy (in 2013) to merge artistic practice and philosophical reflection. In 2023, Roxane Vidalon decided to set aside art production to focus on an in-depth study of art, material, and abstraction. In March 2024, she founded the Institut d’Art Philosophique et Invisuel (IAPI), with a public launch planned for the same year. Her latest article, L’Œufre au Rose, was published in Revue de Paris (No. 54) in February 2024. Her most recent lecture on invisual art, titled L’art est-il faux ? L’art invisuel comme réponse, took place in July 2024 during the Semaine des Arts de Soueich (Haute-Garonne, Occitanie, France). Recently, an article mentioning the artist, Roxane Vidalon, L’art invisuel pour repousser les limites, by Stéphane Boularand, was published in La Dépêche in May 2024.
Éric Monsinjon
Philosopher and art historian. At the origin of the Theory for creating new arts and a new branch in philosophy: the Ontology of art. Major contributor to the Paris Biennale.
Art historian and philosopher, Éric Monsinjon specializes in 20th-century artistic avant-gardes and experimental contemporary art. His research focuses on French avant-garde movements such as Lettrism and the Situationist International. As a professor, he teaches art history at the Académie de la Comédie-Française in Paris, the National Art School of Paris (ENDA), and various art schools in Paris. He is also the founder of « L’Anti-Esthétique, » a blog on Mediapart dedicated to experimental art research for the general public. Currently, he is working on developing a general theory on the formation and formalization of new arts. This involves consciously and methodically transforming certain human activities or non-artistic knowledge into autonomous arts through appropriate actions and means. He believes that the act of creation should not be limited to the scale of a single artwork but should extend to the scale of an art form. In 2023, he, along with José Manrubia and Alexandre Gurita, co-founded a new art form: Corrida Etica.
Rose Marie Barrientos
Doctor in argumentation. Contributor to the Paris Biennale, notably in theoretical aspects.
She explores the potential of art as an argument, starting from the perception of art as a form of thought, discourse, and knowledge. Specifically, she is interested in artist organizations (known as « critical enterprises »), which are the focus of her research. The argumentation historian has developed a methodology based on argumentation, allowing the writing of art history with tools borrowed from this discipline. Her approach relies on analyzing the argumentative strategies employed by the artist to give meaning to their work rather than focusing on the production of artworks, whether visual or invisual. She prioritizes argumentative elements and the dynamics of argument over the form and content that convey it.
Ghislain Mollet-Viéville
Art consultant, art critic, honorary expert at the Court of Appeal of Paris, and member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). Active contributor to the Paris Biennale.
To support artistic practices that break away from traditional frameworks, he initiated the profession of art agent, aiming to manage art in its relationship with society. Since 1994, his apartment on rue Beaubourg (occupied between 1975 and 1992) has been reconstructed identically and is permanently exhibited, along with his collection of minimalist and conceptual art, at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Geneva (Mamco). Ghislain Mollet-Viéville engages with various societal bodies to update the modalities of production, dissemination, acquisition, and actualization of works whose originality demands unprecedented principles of presentation and activation. With him, the art object is no longer the object of art! In his actions, the question of the status of art, both materially and intellectually, is largely considered in the interpretation of works based on a given time and place.
Loli Tsan
Specialist in the application of invisual art to music. Contributor.
Having grown up in a family of composers, a classical pianist holding a Piano Diploma from the École Normale de Musique and a Ph.D. in Romance Linguistics and Literatures from UCLA, Loli Tsan is a professor of medieval literature at the State University of New York. She is the author of a thesis titled Fragmentation and Writing of the Body in the Middle Ages, numerous articles on the reception of globalization in France, on 12th-century Romance literature, and a book titled Art in the Face of Singularity. Loli Tsan has presented various aspects of her research at numerous conferences at universities in the United States, China, Brazil, Tunisia, and across Europe in France, Greece, Italy, and Belgium. Her current research applies to Music Beyond Sound and the parallels between invisual art and sound disintegration in music. In collaboration with Alexandre Gurita, she is working on recording a series of lectures on the dematerialization of music for Enda Autonome (the online version of the National Art School of Paris).
Sylvain Soussan
Artist and founder of the Museum of Clouds. Notably contributor to the Paris Biennale.
The Museum of Clouds focuses on technologies that reduce carbon or radioactive emissions: wind turbines, hydro turbines, photovoltaics, and gray energy. The mobilization of human energy is, in itself, a resource that the Museum of Clouds seeks to value by transforming the perception of works into works of perception. The artist introduced ecology into art in the 2000s.
Mariem Memni
Invisual artist and migrologist. Director and founder of EEIMA (European School for Migrant Integration through Art). Initiator of the Art & Migration Forum, partnered with the Paris Biennale.
She holds a Master’s degree from the ISBAS (Higher Institute of Fine Arts of Sousse, Tunisia) as well as a DNREA (National Diploma of Research and Experimentation in Art) from ENDA (National Art School of Paris), obtained in 2021. Mariem Memni develops « chata, » an invisual practice she invented, defined as a « process of converting negative energy into positive energy that ensures harmony within a group. » She also engages in a practice called « lifeformance, » a form of life-scale performance that considers life as a whole as an artistic process. Additionally, Mariem Memni has created a new discipline, migrology, which considers the migrant as a potential artist capable of transforming their migrant life into a work of art. EEIMA is based on the conviction that invisual art can play a crucial role in the integration and emancipation of migrants. Within EEIMA, the artist has developed an « adaptation scale, » a grid for measuring the migrant’s adaptation or maladaptation to their insertion context. The most recent article mentioning Mariem Memni, titled The Invisual Artist as Experimental Citizen by Audrey Poussines, was published in the journal Étapes in May 2024.
Im-another Lazyartist
Invisual artist who considers laziness as a form of art. Initiator of the International Lazy Art Day, partnered with the Paris Biennale.
Invisual artist acting under the pseudonym Im-another Lazyartist, also known as « the lazy artist. » The artist writes a journal in which she explains why she does not produce artworks. The reasons given are different each time and form a wealth of possibilities for the post-artwork. Here are a few: « I will not create a work of art today because I have the right to. I am exercising my freedom as an artist. » « I will not create a work of art today because a work must be titled in English to exist in the contemporary art market, and my English is approximate because it is not my native language. » « I will not create a work of art today because I am a female artist and have The Origin of the World between my thighs. I will not create a work of art today because I have already created life, and now I must feed it, rock it, clean it, wash it, listen to it scream for hours without throwing it out the window, and of course, love it. And because, like too many women (whether single or not), I do all this alone, so I certainly don’t have the time to create a work of art. » « I will not create a new work of art today because everything has already been done; no creation can really be ‘new’ anymore, everything is just recycling in this post-modern and post-industrial era. » « I will not create a work of art today because I am just another lazy artist, parasitizing the system and living off society by benefiting from allowances that have nothing to do with my family situation or my professional situation or my monthly income or the national solidarity wanted and built by our predecessors, one of those lazy artist impostors who claim to make art with their so-called ‘ideas’ and sell their works for millions (if only!…). »
Gilbert Coqalane
Urban invisual artist, member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Urban Art, school instructor, President of L’Armée Recrute publishing house and C.D.R.A.O. (Center for Documentation, Research, and Application of Offensives), partner of Paris Biennale.
Holder of a DNREA from ENDA (National Art School of Paris) obtained in 2021. He founded the first invisual art movement, Le perturbationisme, in Nancy in 2021. C.D.R.A.O is space dedicated to creating, developing, and promoting “disruption” and “offensive” as forms of art. Le perturbationisme is recognized as the first movement of invisual art in history, officially launched on November 1, 2021, in Nancy. For the artist, disruption serves as an artistic language, defined as an action aimed at disturbing the reality of a public space or its users’ perceptions. A series of disruptions forms an « artistic offensive. » The goal of an artistic offensive is to produce tangible results in reality, in public spaces. Le perturbationisme shares strong connections with urban art and art in public spaces, with the primary objective being to engage with reality and attempt to modify it through disruption. Disruption is inherently critical, as it challenges the established order.
Yosr Mahmoud
Invisual matriartist. Develops hospitality as a medium for art within the Paris Biennale.
A graduate with a master’s degree from ISBAS (Higher Institute of Fine Arts of Sousse, Tunisia) and a former practitioner-researcher at ENDA (National Paris School of Art) – session XXIV, 2023-2024. She develops the Aesthetics of Hospitality, a set of welcoming and convivial practices that regard hospitality as a distinct category of invisual art. This aesthetic transcends the traditional artwork and considers the daily life of a female artist as a value that can be invested in an artistic practice. Yosr Mahmoud coined the term « matriartist, » aiming to gender authorship in art and highlight women artists who are mothers in a still predominantly patriarchal world. Engaged in her work, Yosr Mahmoud explores her genealogical identity, drawing inspiration from the virtues of her ancestral heritage. Her latest lecture on the Aesthetics of Hospitality took place at the National Cultural Festival in Tunisia (Sousse), JEPTAV 2024 – Invisual Art: Fields of Application and Involvement. Upcoming action : The hospitality as a form of art, Brussels, September 7, 2024.
Paul Ardenne
Contemporary art historian, critic, and exhibition curator. Active contributor.
Paul Ardenne is devoted to the exploration of contemporary art, with a keen interest in the interactions between art, society, and the environment. An author of numerous influential works, he explores themes such as environmental aesthetics, public art, and the relationship between art and ecology. His publications include Art, l’âge contemporain (1997), L’Art dans son moment politique (2000), Un Art contextuel (2002), Extrême – Esthétiques de la limite dépassée (2006), Images-Monde. De l’événement au documentaire (in collaboration with Régis Durand, 2007), Art, le présent. La création plastique au tournant du 21e siècle (2009), Un Art écologique (2018). His forthcoming book Hors de vue – De l’invisuel et de la minoration physique de l’art is scheduled for release in late 2024. Paul Ardenne has curated numerous exhibitions, including Micropolitiques (Magasin, Grenoble, 2000), Expérimenter le réel (Albi-Montpellier, 2001 and 2002), Working Men (Geneva, 2008), La Force de l’art at the Grand Palais, Paris (2006), Luxembourg Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennale (2015). He actively collaborates with the Biennale de Paris and ENDA. He was the first art theorist to write about the Biennale de Paris under the direction of Alexandre Gurita, with his text Expérimenter une biennale, published as the preface to the catalog of its XIVth edition in 2004.
Elisa Bollazzi
Invisual artist. Organizer of Cabinets of Regards within the Paris Biennale.
Her work involves collecting small parts of artworks, known as « microelements, » from artists’ studios, galleries, museums, and exhibitions. The collection of these microelements forms a « Microcollection, » which now comprises over 1,000 fragments. Her microcollection can be observed through a microscope installed in Cabinets of Regard, which the artist sets up in art venues or other types of spaces. Elisa Bollazzi’s practice is collective, as she invites other artists to send her fragments of their artworks, which become donors and are valorized in a completely novel way.
Robert Storr
Writer, artist, art critic, ex Dean of the Yale University School of Art, and Member of the Artistic Council of the International Foundation for Art Research. Partner of the Paris Biennale in New York.
Robert Storr was the first American director of the Venice Biennale. He served as Chief Curator of the Department of Paintings and Sculptures at MoMA, New York, from 1990 to 2002. He writes for numerous journals and magazines, including Art in America, Artforum, Art Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Village Voice, Interview, Parkett, Frieze magazine. Selected publications: In direzione ostinata e contraria: scritti sull’arte contemporanea, 2011; September: A History Painting by Gerhard Richter, 2009; Gerhard Richter: the Cage Paintings, 2009. He asserts: “Today, what artists do is so varied and widely dispersed that it is truly futile to worry about a major artistic trend as in the past. If, like me, you think art resembles a vast estuary composed of many branches of varying width, depth, and flow, the conclusion to draw is not to follow only the widest and fastest branches. One must also explore the narrower and slower ones, sometimes the deepest, or those that take surprising and mysterious directions. Since there are many ways to map such a space, but no way to cover it entirely, my strategy has been to try to follow one current after another, in a way that provides an overview of the entire landscape while focusing my attention on certain regions. I simply no longer accept the idea that there is a main circuit of art.”
André Eric Létourneau
Manoeuvrier and intangible cultural heritage artist. He represents the Paris Biennale in certain countries. Member of the evaluation committee for New Artistic Practices at the Montreal Arts Council, professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal (Canada).
His work manifests as real-life experiences aimed at evolving social practices through experiences based on methodologies traditionally associated with art. As a manoeuvrier and artist of intangible cultural heritage, he has been a member of the evaluation committee for New Artistic Practices at the Montreal Arts Council (2009-2012). Professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal. His work manifests as real-life experiences aimed at evolving social practices through experiences based on methodologies traditionally associated with art. He engages in committed practice under various pseudonyms. These are para-artistic activities that he infiltrates, particularly in the businesses where he is invited to work. He positions himself in opposition to recent trends in contemporary art, where political content is often instrumentalized for representation purposes.
Tomasz de Rosset
Historian of art collections from the 17th to the 21st century. Co-coordinator of the Paris Biennale in Poland.
Tomasz de Rosset explores the notion of art collection in its most classical sense while also being interested in invisual art, which completely challenges the traditional concept of art collection. He particularly questions the possibility of collecting forms of art that are initially considered uncollectible, such as invisual practices.
