Philippe Pasquier

Philippe Pasquier is a French and Canadian researcher, educator, and artist, currently working as a full professor in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology of Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Communication, Arts and Technology. His research focuses on the theory and applications of creative artificial intelligence.
==Research==
After studying mathematics, computer science and cognitive sciences in France and Belgium, Pasquier completed a Ph.D. at Laval University, researching multi-agent systems and the cognitive modelling of intelligent agents. He continued research into autonomous agent systems as a postdoctoral research fellow with the Intelligent Agent Laboratory at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Since 2008, Pasquier has been a faculty member at the Faculty of Communication, Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. 
In 2008, he founded the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI, a research-creation group dedicated to artificial intelligence and its application for creative uses. Throughout his career, Philippe Pasquier has authored and collaborated on research projects and publications applying AI in multidisciplinary contexts, including works that engage with the fields of AI, machine learning, cognitive sciences, psychology, human-computer interaction, Computational Creativity, digital and interactive arts.
==Teaching==
As an instructor, Pasquier has led courses at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts & Technology since 2008, with topics ranging from Sound Design, Performance and Technology, Computational Art and Design, to Creative Artificial Intelligence. He also instructs two MOOC courses through the Kadenze platform, intended to provide an in-depth survey of generative art, creative AI and computational creativity, with an emphasis on the formal paradigms and algorithms used for generation. 
==Artistic Work==
Creative processes and their possible automation are at the core of Pasquier's artistic work, which has spanned music, interactive art, and media art, with numerous collaborations with other artists. Through collaborations with artists in a variety of disciplines and media, Philippe Pasquier has co-authored numerous artworks, ranging from large-scale urban screen productions (iOTA, Longing + Forgetting), interactive installations exploring human interactions with technology (Praystation, Respire), to live performances (Rays of glass Needles, Revive). 
===Music and Audio-Visual Performances===
A major focus of Pasquier’s work as an artist, composer, and artificial intelligence researcher has been the development of autonomous systems capable of composing and generating music intelligently. Explorations at the intersection of research and artistic work have generated many research projects, AI-generated music, and autonomous music-generating agents. Notable examples include MASOM, SpireMuse, Audio Metaphor, Multi-Track Music Machine (MMM), and Calliope. Pasquier is also a composer of electro-acoustic, experimental, and electronic music and member of the French electronic music collective robonom.
===Media Art Installations===
In 2014, Philippe Pasquier developed Longing + Forgetting is a large-scale urban screen art installation created in collaboration with Canadian artist Thecla Schiphorst and creative developer Matt Gingold. The piece unfolds through projected virtual agents climbing a building facade following algorithmically determined paths influenced by each other. Longing + Forgetting is an outcome of research that explores how movement can be used more expressively and intelligently within interactive technologies. 
More recent artworks include Respire, an immersive installation art piece created in collaboration with artists Mirjana Prpa & Kıvanç Tatar, in which an abstract three-dimensional ocean and a music software agent work with a breathing sensor which serves as an interface for the user to interact with the AI-driven visual and musical output. The piece was first exhibited at One Art Space in New York and MUTEK in 2016. 
The latest media artwork has been focused on visual art generated in response to sonic inputs, presented as the Autolume series of artwork. The works created with Jonas Kraasch were presented at the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna in 2021 and the Akbank Sanat art centre in Istanbul in 2022.
==Community Development==
Pasquier was a founding member and longtime chair of the board of Musical Metacreation (MuMe), a workshop and concert series founded to bring together artists, practitioners. The organization has hosted annual workshops, publications, concerts, and tutorials since its foundation in 2012. 
Pasquier is also a founding steering committee member of the Conference on AI Music Creativity (AIMC). Since 2020, AIMC has been hosting annual conferences to bring together scholars and artists interested in the virtual emulation of musical creativity and its use for music creation, and to provide an interdisciplinary platform to promote, present and discuss their work in scientific and artistic contexts. 
Philippe was director of the International Symposium of Electronic Arts in Vancouver ISEA2015, marking the return of the symposium to Canada, 20 years since the groundbreaking first Canadian ISEA1995 in Montréal. As part of ISEA2015, he was also involved in organizing Algorave, the first live-coding dance music event in Western Canada. 
Category:Université Laval alumni
Category:University of Melbourne alumni
Category:Researchers
Category:Educators
Category:Artists
Category:Professors