Living Archive Research Group

The Living Archive Research Group was created in 2019.

It brings together the EPFL, the School of Design and Art School of Valais (EDHEA), and the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences of the University of Geneva.

The Montreux Jazz Festival and the Artists In Labs program of the Zurich University of the Arts also contribute to the Group, in particular for the contact with artists and the public presentation of performances.

The objectives of the Living Archive Research group are :

To develop studies and artistic projects around the archival collections, in the field of sound and visuals in particular but not only (olfactory, tactile, etc.)

To integrate innovative technological components (artificial intelligence, virtual reality, audio spatialization)

To develop participatory modes involving the public (augmented reality, real-time control of certain aspects of musical creation)

To study the emotions resulting from such experiences, at the level of the public as well as the musicians (for example in the case of improvisations)

To reflect on the basis of such studies, on the form that the production of musical archives should take in the future (in the case of a music festival but also in a broader way) by associating the needs expressed by the artists and/or the public

To present the results of these experiments in the form of public performances during events