ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Many objects have a status more similar to that of a person or a creature than that of a simple object. Works of art – Western or non-Western, popular or contemporary –, or high-tech products – robots, machines, etc. – are regularly endowed, in their use, with unexpected capacities for action, which render them almost people. Like a child devoted to its cuddly toy or someone who curses their computer or mobile accusing it of being incompetent or stubborn. Like the shaman who calls on the spirits through a statuette resembling the gods.

This transfer or confusion that exists between human and non-human, and the specific and personalised relationship that connects them, in a wide variety of cultures, is the vast subject of this anthropological exhibition. A foray into robotics, through the pioneering work of Masahiro Mori, will provide an insight into the role of anthropomorphism in diverse artefacts, and what unfolds when a robot with an all too human appearance - or any work of intimidating realism - comes under our gaze, unsettling the beholder.

Like the child who shows great passion for his soft toy or someone who swears at his computer reproaching it for being incompetent, like the shaman who summons spirits through a statuette: there are numerous objects being treated on a regular basis like people endowed with odd behaviour patterns and hidden capacities.

Many artefacts in the collections of the musée du quai Branly and elsewhere indeed have a status that in many respects is closer to that of a ‘person’ or a ‘creature’ rather than that of a simple ‘object’. Crucial for understanding the relationship man has with the heterogeneous nature of the world that surrounds him, is our inclination to perceive people other than in human beings, which is the subject of this anthropological exhibition.

The exhibition shows works of art-Western and non-Western, popular and contemporary – as well as objects borrowed from the fields of new technologies, design, to the history of science or even from robotics. This incursion into robotics, through the work of Masahiro Mori, enables us to understand the role of anthropomorphism in the most diverse artefacts and what is at play when a robot with an appearance that is too human catches our eye until it destabilizes or intimidates.