Back in April 2018, I had the pleasure of participating in the second annual study day organized by the Network of Young Researchers of the LabEx ICCA (Cultural Industries and Artistic Creation), held at the Maison de la Recherche de la Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. The event explored the evolving notions of participation, cooperation, and collaborationin the cultural sector, bringing together early-career researchers from across disciplines to reflect on creative dynamics in the digital and post-digital age.
My presentation, titled “Le concept d’auteur dans le festival de lumière. Auteurité partagée entre les acteurs en scène”(“The Concept of Author in Light Festivals: Shared Authority Amongst Scene Actors”), delved into the shifting notions of authorship in the context of light art festivals. Drawing from my early research on the Portuguese case, I analyzed how light festivals challenge traditional ideas of single authorship, highlighting instead distributed forms of creative agency among curators, producers, technical teams, city officials, and artists themselves.
The session, moderated by sociologist Timothée Euvrard, formed part of a broader panel on collective creation and the problematization of authorship. Alongside Guillaume Deveney, who presented on collaborative authorship in contemporary music, we collectively questioned the myth of the isolated creator and emphasized the relational and negotiated nature of cultural production today.
This event provided a fantastic opportunity to connect with scholars working on similar issues—from digital film promotion to online audience engagement—while engaging critically with the institutional transformations affecting the cultural industries.
The LabEx ICCA network has been instrumental in fostering interdisciplinary dialogue in this field, and I remain grateful to the organizing committee and the discussants for creating such a generative space for young researchers.
Manuel Garcia-Ruiz 