LabEx Creation, Arts and Heritage (CAP)

The Laboratory of Excellence Creation, Arts and Heritage (French acronym Labex « CAP »), has been set up under the direction of Philippe Dagen, professor of contemporary art History at University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and director of the research unit HiCSA (EA 4100). The project has been developed in conjunction with nine partners of ComuE héSam and six establishments under Ministry of Culture’s supervision. This Labex is one of the projects selected by the French Government with the aim of supporting and increasing the role and the international recognition of the best French research laboratories.

Both an observatory and an experimental laboratory, the Labex CAP studies arts, creation and heritage, as a reference point to understand and to accompany economic changes of the contemporary society, connected with economic life, cultures and means of communication globalization.In this way, The Labex CAP uses various scientific skills, in the areas of esthetic theories, art philosophy, art, architecture and heritage history, musical studies, poetics, cultural anthropology, sociology of art, history of technologies, but also communication and information technologies, design, conservation and restoration.The conjunction between Labex CAP, major institutions concerned by heritage outside PRES héSam and organizations connected with the area of culture, communication and information technologies, is one of the strengths of the project. One of its ambitions is to allowinnovative and successful collaboration between organizations which came under the French Ministry of higher Education and Research and others which are not affiliated. Through this opening towards non-university works, the Labex CAP provides an interdisciplinary view, crossing questions, practices and research procedures. This project aims to remove obstacles between the different approaches of art, creation and heritage, and, beyond, skills and professions related to those areas.