“In all we do, there is always a kinder way to do it.”
artistic statement
My work is about the weaving of bonds, and about kindness toward others and toward oneself. These two things seem to me to lie at the heart of human relationships, at the heart of what makes us human.
I am deeply interested in the creative process, and in living and creating in the present moment. Whether I work through film, theatre, writing, photography, or music, what matters most to me are the encounters these practices make possible.
bio
Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau is a French-American filmmaker and artist exploring creativity, consciousness, and what makes us human. Born in Paris and now based in California, he has worked as a director, actor, writer, and producer on some fifty film and theatre projects. A play he directed in New York received the awards for best play and best actor. He is currently developing several feature films and series projects as a writer-director.
Trained in acting and directing at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York (MFA, The New School), he is the author of two books on Method Acting, La Méthode de l'Actors Studio and The Pedagogy of Method Acting, and teaches actors through The Method Actor.
His path is unusual. Before turning to the arts, he earned a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering and published widely in that field. Today, his research focuses on the creative process, the relationship between art and spirituality, and AI and human creativity. He speaks on these questions internationally.
He founded the journal p-e-r-f-o-r-m-a-n-c-e. He also serves as a film critic and festival juror, including on the FIPRESCI jury at the SCHLiNGEL International Film Festival.
Drawing on these different worlds, he works with individuals and leaders as an advisor and coach, helping them find clarity at consequential moments.
His artistic practice also includes photography, with three published books, and music, with two albums as a composer, Acousmatic #1 and Acousmatic #2. His art videos have been shown at biennials and exhibitions in France and the United States.
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IN DEVELOPMENT
Several feature film and series projects as writer-director
A Fleeting Journey, short film in post-production
Book of film critiques (forthcoming)
DIRECTING: FILM
2026 A Fleeting Journey, short film in post-production (also actor)
2025 Compassionate Awareness, art video (Lift-Off Festival selection, Audience Award)
2024 Near Empty Space: Compassionate Awareness, art video (performance at PASIC 2025)
2024 The Little Red Fox, short film
2022 Walter, short film co-directed with Emcy Ly (also actor)
2020 Music video for C'est juste une p'tite ballade by Michel Delaigue
2020 Music video for Emmanuelle by ArchiPol
2019 Lost Bodies 1 and Lost Bodies 2, with patients of the psychiatric day hospital in Villiers-sur-Marne (also actor)
2018 Emotionwise, with patients of the psychiatric day hospital in Villiers-sur-Marne (also actor)
2017 Roomies, short film co-directed with Florian Mazier (also actor and composer)
2013 King Cake and Party Time!, short films (also actor)
Full credits on IMDb.
DIRECTING: STAGE
2023–26 Intimate Encounters with Anthropocene, Aix-en-Provence (also performer)
2022 Seeming Stillness, Los Angeles (also performer and video)
2022 Two-week dance workshop on yin and yang, Chapman University
2017 Choices, New York, benefit for the victims of the Paris terror attacks
2013 First Love by Samuel Beckett, benefit for bone marrow research
2011 Magical and Ecological Fairytales by Éliane Arnoldy
2010 The Lesson by Eugène Ionesco (also played the Professor)
2010 From Chaos to Creation, Théâtre de l'Agora, Évry
2006 An Honest Arrangement, New York (Best Play and Best Actor awards)
ACTING (SELECTION)
2026 A Fleeting Journey (also writer-director)
2024 Reaper by Jack Wolf Perry
2024 Ruach by Derek Delson
2023 A Page to Turn by Quentin Moret
2018 Violet Barrette by Junyi Zhu
2018 Recordings of the poems of La Bonne Chanson, part of a complete Verlaine
2015 Insomnium by Souleyman Lalami
2015 The Chips Are Down by Adrien Jeuffrain
2013 Nomen Mysticum by Florian Mazier
2012 Death of a Tune by V. Radhakrishnan
2011 The five male roles in The Blue Room, directed by Colin Reese
Full credits on IMDb.
TALKS AND KEYNOTES (SELECTION)
2026 AI and Human Creativity: What Machines Can and Cannot Do
2026 What AI Cannot Decide For You — The Human Edge in an Age of Intelligent Machines
2026 Lessons from Three Years of Interdisciplinary Seminar
2025 Art-Based Research and Art Practices as Alchemical Processes
2025 Revisiting Memories: The Auto-explicitation Interview and a Photographic Project
2025 The Pedagogical and Epistemological Challenges of Arts-Sciences Practices
2025 Towards a Phenomenology of Intuition and Synchronicity
2025 Creativity as an Object of and a Tool for Arts-Based Research: Phenomenology, Mental Health, Climate Change, and AI
2025 Why AI Algorithms Can’t Be Creative
2024 How Art Can Help Us Save the Planet
2024 Creativity in Focus: Phenomenology, Enaction, and Collaboration with Artificial Intelligence
2024 Creativity in Art and Science: The Contribution of Artificial Intelligence
2023 Can an Artificial Intelligence Algorithm Be Creative?
2022 Artificial Intelligence and Artistic Creation: A Project, Some Questions
2022 Being in Evocation: The Explicitation Interview and Method Acting
2022 Studying the Creative Process from a Phenomenological Point of View Using the Explicitation Interview and Auto-Explicitation
2021 A Phenomenological and Enactive Approach to Intermedial Visual Contagions, University of Geneva
2021 Artistic Workshops with Patients of a Psychiatric Day Hospital in France
2021 The Enactive Nature of the Relationship between Film Criticism and Film Aesthetics
2019 Method Acting: Genesis, Practice, Phenomenology
2016 The Creative Process of Robert Lepage
2013 The Impact of Contemplative Practices on Creativity and the Creative Process
BOOKS
2026 Haiku 1, poetry and photography (English version)
2025 The Pedagogy of Method Acting
2024 La Méthode de l'Actors Studio (in French)
2023 Diptych, photography, with Roberto Pieraccini
2023 Haïku 1, poetry in French and photography
2020 Handscapes, photography
2019 Choices, collection of short plays including Missed Opportunities
2017 Muir Woods Spirits, photography
EDITORIAL WORK AND ARTICLES (SELECTION)
Founder (2014) and editor of the journal p-e-r-f-o-r-m-a-n-c-e, Vols. 1–8 (2014–2024), including The Artist Researcher, The Creative Process, Healing Art, Art Research, Art and Human, and Art and Ethics
2021 "Method Acting," Encyclopædia Universalis (in French)
2021 "Method Acting: Genesis, Practice, and Phenomenology" (in French)
2021 "Chance and Creation"
2021 "Utopian and Dystopian Futures: How Fiction Helps Us Think about Evolution" (in French)
2017 "Creation, Play, and Contemplation: Art as a Spiritual Exercise"
2017 "The Creative Process of Robert Lepage" and an interview with Robert Lepage
2014 "In Praise of the Artist Researcher"
FILM CRITICISM AND JURIES
2026, 2021, 2019, 2018 FIPRESCI Jury, SCHLiNGEL International Film Festival for children and young audiences, Chemnitz
2020–2026 Jury for the best Arab film of the year
2019 SFCC Jury for best first French film and best first foreign film of the year
2019–2021 Presenter of the WebTV, Off-Courts short film festival, Trouville
2018 SFCC Jury, Off-Courts short film festival, Trouville
AWARDS, GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
2025 Audience Award, Lift-Off Festival, for Compassionate Awareness
2023 Grant and art research residency, Campfr, France
2022 Two grants and art research residencies, Chapman University (April and September)
2020 Grant and four-month art research residency, Chapman University
2015, 2016 Art research residencies, Les Arts ForeZtiers biennial, France
2006 Best Play and Best Actor awards for An Honest Arrangement, New York
MUSIC AND VISUAL ART (SELECTION)
2025 Album Acousmatic #2
2023 Album Acousmatic #1
2023 First cycle of polyphonic vocal music based on Haïku 1
2015–2022 Acousmatic compositions for Butō dancers, including Navigation, Virtuoso Cantabile, and Thinking Machine
2019 Multimedia installation Pas.sage, with the F.I.A.C. collective
2015–2016 Art videos Crusading the Trees and Kaleidophysis, installations, performances, and photography, Les Arts ForeZtiers biennial
2015 Performance and art video Poetic Zodiac: Aries, Star Wanderers symposium (CNES)
2014 Collective exhibition Between-Worlds, with artists from China and France
TEACHING
Faculty, Chapman University
Acting coach and founder, The Method Actor
The Method Actor Monday Lab, live online acting class
PRESS (SELECTION)
2018 Interview with Linnea Sage, Backstage
2013 "From Chaos to Creation: Interview with Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau," by Anne Sachs
2011 Review of The Blue Room, lemague.net
2010 Review of The Lesson, lemague.net
2005 Double-page feature in The Standard, New York issue
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
2023 HDR (Habilitation à diriger des recherches) in Art and Philosophy
2018–2020 Psychoanalysis training, International Lacanian Association, Paris
2018–2019 B.A. in Psychology, Paris 8 University
2009–2010 Drawing, École des Beaux-Arts, Paris
2004–2007 Acting and Directing, Actors Studio Drama School, New York (MFA, The New School)
2002–2004 Acting, Théâtre des Clochards Célestes, Lyon
1999–2000 Storytelling, Rennes
1999–2000 Photography, École des Beaux-Arts, Rennes
1997–1998 Drawing and Watercolor, Cooper Union, New York
1995–1996 M.A. in Phonetics, Paris 3 University
1993–1997 PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering
1992–1993 M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Paris 11 University
1989–1992 Engineering degree (B.S.) in Electrical and Computer Engineering