A unique research centre dedicated to intermedia practices, CRI (Centre for Research into Intermediality) is committed to exploring the rapidly changing relationships between old and new media, studying the intersection of media, to investigating the contamination of discourses, and analyzing the epistemological changes brought on by these relationships.
In 1999, CRI put together its first international conference on the role of new media in intellectual production at a time when there is a definite push toward the globalization of knowledge. Organized by André Gaudreault (University of Montreal) and Terry Cochran (CRI) and partly funded by the Daniel Langlois Foundation,
La nouvelle sphère intermédiatique brought together researchers and critics from diverse backgrounds to discuss intermediality. Held at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal from March 2 to 6, 1999, the conference dealt with everything from art history to film studies and included presentations by important theorists such as Thierry Bardini (University of Montreal), Michael Century (McGill University), François Albera (University of Lausanne, Switzerland), Johanne Lamoureux (University of Montreal) and Christine Ross (McGill University).
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CRI has since organized two more editions of the conference in 2000 and 2001, featuring such keynote speakers as Derrick De Kerckhove and Laura Mulvey.