The article is a reflection on the conditions for artistic research to appear in contemporary art. The purpose of the analysis is to propose new conceptual framework, to help observe contemporary relations between art and science, in particular social sciences and humanities. The issues discussed in the paper cover: the definition of artistic research with regard to artistic and scientific activities; the context of technological transformations within the infrastructure of art and science; the interpretation of how the reference to values and activities assigned, by tradition, to the world of science, may constitute a strategy adhering to other “rules of the game” in the field of the arts.