This lecture will explore the similarities and differences between art and artistic research. Whereas artistic research might focus on the description and presentation of auditory phenomena, sound art tends to privilege sensory experience. And whereas research tends to be an ongoing collective endeavour, an artwork is more often than not a one-off expressing a single artist's sensibility. Yet at the same time, a research project can also be an artwork, inasmuch as it too can demonstrate creativity and originality. The boundaries between  art and artistic research have always been unclear, particularly in the case of sound art, which often involves considerable technical research. I will present different examples of sound works that explore these paradoxes and contradictions, challenging and redefining the notion of artistic research. 

Dr. Rahma Khazam is a researcher affiliated to Institut ACTE, Sorbonne Paris 1 and EnsadLab, Paris. She studied philosophy and art history and received her Ph.D from the Sorbonne in aesthetics and art theory. Her research ranges from sound art and its history to contemporary aesthetics and has been published in edited volumes, academic journals and exhibition catalogues. Recent publications include "Art, Science and the Mutant Object" in Post-Specimen Encounters Between Art, Science and Curating, 2020; "Son et Image: Face au Réel" in L'écho du Réel, 2021; Objets vivants, ed. Rahma Khazam, Mimesis 2023; “Reenvisioning the Technological Sublime” in Christina Kubisch: Inaudible, Invisible, Presses du réel, 2023.