I am a tenured associate professor of epistemology (CNU 72) at ETIS research department, a research facility with french Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), ENSEA Graduate School and CY Cergy Paris University. I am also an artist-researcher affiliated to the Design-STS Research group of ETIS.
My field of research is the Philosophy of Technology and the highly interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). My main focus is on “Art & Science“ interactions, artistic research (fr: recherche-création) and emerging epistemologies. My current objects of interests are artificial creation, Art and AI, and imaginaries around AI in connection with post-modernism and the neoliberal era. In collaboration with my colleague Lilyana V. Petrova, I am also working on transdisplinarity, legitimation/territorialisation process and the hierarchy of disciplines. I’ve also had a long career in music alongside.
Artistic approach. Whether as an artist or as an academic, but always as a researcher, I’m trying to shape a critical corpus of our relation to so called “augmenting” technology and decision algorithms. My approach thrives on a sensitive conversation between art and autonomous machines that investigates the ambivalence of postmodern subjects in their relation to technology, in effect leveraging on the concepts of actes manqués and anthropological invariants. Traces, unspeakable legacies, and multiscale approaches form the core of my work. I am making use of various mediums, from interactive electronic & robotic installations to tailored-made sound devices to performing arts.
The concept of digital gestures in particular, that is, gestures linked to digital craftsmanship (DIY, coding, PCB design, 3D CAD, …) is central to my practice, with bugs and faults – both inextricably linked to digital technology – figuring an extra medium in itself. In this respect, my work indirectly draws from hacking and circuit bending subcultures, but also relates to the dialectic between intimacy and universality that is so deeply rooted in the concept of gesture.
Academic methodologly. My academic work makes use of tools from phenomenology and psychoanalysis, with a focus on works by Jacques Lacan, Jean-François Lyotard, Roland Gori, Jean-Pierre Lebrun, Cynthia Fleury, Georges Canguilhem, … to cite but a few. My recent works and publications revolve around ambivalence and actes manqués in our relation to technology with the question of subjectivity being at the core of my research. I’m also vividly active in the investigation of new forms of knowledge production and dissemination, e.g. using theatre and performance.
Collaborations. I’ve had numerous collaboration with other artists in the last decade, including Olga Kisseleva from Institut Acte (Sorbonne), Eric Maillet (through the Cycle & Recycle research project), the Cantierezero collective, Ooze architects, …. My work in collaboration with Kisseleva has been exhibited at Art Paris, FIAC, Louvre-Lens, Ekaterinburg biennal for industriel contemporary art, HKW Berlin and Moscow Laboratoria for Art and Science. I closely collaborate with philosopher Giovanni Leghissa from the department of philosophy and education science at Università di Torino. I’m also happy to give lectures to the general public on philosophical issues regarding artificial intelligence, robotic and transhumanism.
Pop. I have also been a member of several pop/rock music projects signed to various indie labels, including Pink Noise Party (Z-Records, Playground UK) and Anechoic Chamber (New Rose/Lively Art). I have released six records and given more than a hundred shows in Europe and in the UK. I created the first ever submarine pop show on the Black Sea for Balaklava Odyssey 2010 Media Art and Performance Festival.
Physics. I completed a PhD in theoretical physics at Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation. I’m also holding the french Agrégation grade. I originally graduated in EE alongside an undergrad philosophy cursus. I taught quantum physics, quantum information theory and dynamical systems at graduate level in the past before diving into social sciences and philosophy.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7153-5614Send me an email: reynal at ensea dot fr
Naming policy: you may find me on, e.g., Google Scholar, as Syd Reynal (official), sometimes shortened as Syd Rey (specifically for music production) or Sylvain Reynal (deadname).