the immaterials
translated with Goggle traduction
1985: the exhibition as a philosophical exercise
Absolutely brilliant! A title made for my Luchrones. We’re discussing the exhibition with friends from “ASA-Logiciels.” They let me use their expensive computers at night. A happy coincidence (another one): the company is located on rue Tiquetonne, 200 meters from the Centre Pompidou.
Thierry Chaput is in the background behind Jean-François Lyotard.
Passionate, Mr. Chaput explains that he expects the artists to create a well-defined scenography. The Immatériaux exhibition is innovative in every way. I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better.
“The aim is not to explain, but to make the public aware of this issue through the forms in which it appears in the arts, literature, techno-sciences, and lifestyles. This event simply presents some of its effects to the eyes and ears, as a work of art would.” (press kit)
I enjoy participating in this exhibition-work, which presents itself as “philosophical.” All that remains is to meet the tight deadlines of a complex project.
Upstairs at ASA, they don’t know they’re working on AI. We’re working on a prototype inference engine. In the basement, when Mr. Chaput and his team visit us, I’m testing the model of the Luchrone de Bourges. This is probably what persuades the Centre Pompidou team to place an order with us. A detail: the cellar door is 76 cm wide and the cube 1.5 m. We’re with serious people, and no visitor dares to ask how we plan to get the cube out.
Then comes the time to install the “All Authors” website.
People crowd around me. And not to compliment me. “All Authors” doesn’t have any controls. No keyboard? It’s not possible! Automation isn’t on the Immaterials’ agenda: I’m asked to add control buttons. My first reaction is to leave these people alone: where did they know that we order authors around? Back on rue Tiquetonne, Francis Gernet, head of ASA, brings me back down to earth because we need the budget.
The Immaterials: The Lost Object Website
So I add the reassuring buttons… On my authentic Luchrones, there’s no keyboard, no button, no remote control. I see them as independent, they exist discreetly, silently, at our side. The idea perhaps goes back to my reading of old Hegel’s Master and Slave. Like plants, my Luchrones just need to be watered with a few drops of electricity. I realize that, against the current philosophy, a young artist is no match. Shocked at not being able to explain myself, I don’t go to the opening and don’t take any photos.
The year of the immatériaux saw the release of Steve Jobs’ first “Macs.” Looking back, the exhibition seems even more out of step than it did at the time. The clichés, the gloom, the pessimism, and the feeling of being trapped in a labyrinth—it’s the opposite of what my friends at ASA and I feel about the hegemonic evolution of seductive computers. The exhibition is far from the success we had hoped for.
As well-known agents of change, artists are paradoxically asked not to bring anything personal to the Immatériaux exhibition. Mr. Lyotard believes that technology implies anonymity and renunciation of the world. This is the opposite of what motivates me: to have fun, to discover, to repurpose whatever comes my way. The texts and numerous articles on Immatériaux seem out of step today. Sometimes they hit the mark, sometimes they don’t. The future is no longer what it was in 1985.
To judge on the merits, in addition to the press kit, there is the article by Noémie Chataigner.
- Thierry Chaput was the curator of the exhibition. It embodied the ideas of Jean-François Lyotard
For further information: https://journals.openedition.org/appareil/797 https://monoskop.org/images/5/5b/Les-Immateriaux_Petit-Journal_1985.pdf https://www.e-flux.com/criticism/235949/les-immatriaux-a-conversation-with-jean-franois-lyotard-and-bernard-blistne Envoyer des commentaires