La Société Automatique

“Have we not always had the deep-seated phantasy of a world that would go on without us? The poetic temptation to see the world in our absence, free of any human, all-too- human will?”

— Jean Baudrillard – Why hasn’t everything already disappeared

Industrial robots are designed to perform repetitive tasks with near-perfect precision. They operate without hesitation, exhaustion or loss of concentration. This is the mastery of automation, a synchronised symphony.

From Taylorism to contemporary artificial intelligence, the utopia of automation has become increasingly prevalent. Having already transformed the world of industrial production, it has now taken hold of our thinking, judgement and memory.

This is the age of La Société Automatique (The Automatic Society), the title of a Bernard Stiegler lecture describing the total automation of our lives. All areas of existence are

merging into an invisible network of computations; digital utilitarianism is supplanting human decisions, imposing efficiency-driven logic that reduces our scope for action. Technology is becoming the invisible architect of our lives. An already dystopian present, where education that critically engages with these opaque systems is key in securing the democratic reappropriation of technology.

The exhibition La Société Automatique depicts the anxiety of a post-anthropic world where machines – Sisyphuses devoid of weariness or rebellion – threaten to erase us. A universe of automatons carrying out their self-contained, cyclical work, with no human purpose.

Music : Le Motel & Ben Bertrand
Choreography and performance : Mercedes Dassy
Scenography : Nel Verbeke
La Société Automatique is a co-production by iMAL, LABoral, Europalia and féderation Wallonie Bruxelles (Cellule Arts Numériques)