Automation — Vincent Broquaire & Vincent Godeau — Xpo Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: June 9 → July 29, 2012

Who hasn’t dreamed of a wheel that would take them around the world without having to leave their apartment? Or of a digital app that downloads fresh bread to the table every morning? Or of finally finding out what really goes on behind the screen?

This interactive transmedia exhibition focuses on our relationship with new technologies, and on how they are taking over our privacy and becoming more or less omnipresent in daily life.

Vincent Broquaire, Sans titre, 2012 Courtesy Xpo Gallery

Ultra-sophisticated appliances are resulting in a new generation of hyper-functional households, where the inhabitants’ slightest desire is brought to life — even those that have never been put into words.

This exhibition — a treasure of astonishing appliances, innovative digital applications and interactive installations — puts another spin on this new, barely discernible “assisted living” and invites visitors to examine the new life styles that we are unconsciously starting to embrace.

Vincent Broquaire, Roue d’interieur, 2012 Encre sur papier Courtesy Xpo Gallery

The house automation catalogue was the starting point for brainstorming amongst the artists brought together for this exhibition. Drawn entirely in “clear line” style by Vincent Broquaire with editing and layout by Julia Coffre, the catalogue proposes a series of ultra-technological devices for the main rooms of the home.

Vincent Broquaire’s drawings sidestep the express lane used by technical designers. Using clear-cut lines, he analyses, manipulates and amplifies designs of contemporary appliances to sometimes nonsensical proportions.

The laBBB (Ingi Brown, Charles Beauté and Vincent Broquaire, designers for apartment applications), plays a game of one-upmanship in the creation and spin it puts on digital applications, making it possible to carry out daily tasks virtually without ever having to leave the home (like downloading fresh bread each morning using a digital tablet).

Vincent Godeau does the exact opposite, using low-tech materials to create devices that mimic our most sophisticated appliances. His installations — interactive or in motion — provide a quirky, poetic vision of what goes on behind our screens.

Vincent Godeau, Smiley, 2012 Courtesy Xpo Gallery