As an institute of Aix-Marseille University, the Institute of Cancer and Immunology (ICI) brings together research teams, hospitals and industrialists in Marseille working in the field of cancer and immunology research. The treatment of cancers by stimulating the patient’s immune defences is currently in full development and was even the subject of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2018. The institute aims to strengthen the bridges between the research and teaching teams of the faculties of science, medical and paramedical sciences, and pharmacy in order to set up an integrated international programme of training, research, and valorisation of research results.
The Research & Creation Chair: Cancer and Immunology aims to encourage innovative and interdisciplinary artistic research by highlighting the synergies between scientific research in the field of cancer and immunology and research-creation. It is a question of giving a great national and international visibility to this research at the crossroads of disciplines and regimes of knowledge.
The possible actions are extremely varied: cycles of conferences or participation in workshops at the crossroads of the programmes ‘Arts & Sciences: Indisciplined Knowledges’ and ‘Interdisciplinary Explorations’, working groups transversal to the different scientific programmes of IMéRA, activities and events specifically targeted for a large public and also for students (master and doctoral students). Finally, this chair will stimulate long-term collaborations with researchers from Aix-Marseille University (AMU).
Rejecting an instrumental approach to art, this chair assumes that artists produce knowledge. Focusing on creation, transmission and impact, the resident laureates of this chair will develop their research around one or more of these three fundamental axes:
- The therapeutic use of artistic practices by clinicians in the management of cancer.
- The social representations of cancer in relation with patients’ associations and their families for the production of illustrated books, films (etc.).
- In a more epistemological perspective, a reflection on the relations between artistic practices and clinical and/or scientific practices.
Residencies run for 10 months from 4 September 2023 – 5 July 2024.
Artists will receive €2000 monthly allowance or salary (depending on their candidate status). Residents will also benefit from paid travel expenses and free accommodation on IMERA premises.