Keynote and apero

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As part of the 2026 Interdisciplinary Encounters, we invite you to a keynote lecture and research salon exploring critical, artistic, and experimental approaches to artificial intelligence.

Drawing on works connected to the upcoming exhibition Réécrire la culture, un prompt à la fois : dérives sur les flots vectoriels de l’IA, the inaugural conference will highlight translation operations that render AI’s relational infrastructure legible across artworks, methods, and experimental registers. These operations provide a connective thread for a cross-reading of ongoing partnership-based initiatives.

The event will unfold through keynotes by Etienne Grenier and Marc-Olivier Ducharme, presenting art–science initiatives led by Sporobole, the Chaire IANF, and Hexagram’s Chantier AI. The keynote will examine how the vagueness of contemporary AI allows it to function as a floating signifier—one that often escapes critical articulation. In response to this deficit of speakability, artists and researchers develop strategies to translate, materialize, and reframe AI’s abstract systems through situated practices and collaborative research.

Following the keynote, participants are invited to an apero.

Chair

Jean Dubois

Co-investigator, Université du Québec à Montréal

Jean Dubois is a professor at the École des arts visuels et médiatiques at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He is a founding member of the Hexagram Network, which he co‑directed from 2018 to 2021. He served on the board of directors of VOX, centre de l’image contemporaine for over a decade. His experimental video installation practice explores identity and human behaviours in relation to social and aesthetic issues emerging from new digital culture dispositifs. His works have been regularly presented in national museums and international festivals in Canada and abroad.

Speakers

Etienne Grenier

Artist-Researcher, IANF Chair

Etienne Grenier works at the intersection of digital cultures, critical AI studies, and cultural sociology. A PhD candidate at INRS (Montréal) and a member of the IANF Chair, his research focuses on the impacts of datafication on cultural production chains. A co‑founder of Projet EVA, his work has been presented at Ars Electronica, the Némo Biennale, BIAN, and the Ludwig Museum.

Marc-Olivier Ducharme

Director of Innovation, Alliances, and Futures, Sporobole

Holding a degree in political science, Marc-Olivier Ducharme develops projects at the intersection of art, science, and technology, with a particular interest in distributed forms of governance, artificial intelligence, and critical technological infrastructures in support of artistic ecosystems. His approach is deeply shaped by an attachment to nature, art–science collaboration, and the richness of serendipitous encounters.

Cover images : Courtesy of the guests speakers

Updated on May 19, 2026

Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)