Jean Regnault, Pygmalion priant Vénus d'animer sa statue (1786)
Jean Regnault, Pygmalion priant Vénus d'animer sa statue (1786)

Machines in Our Image

29.09.2026 · AE560929

Artificial beings are not merely tools.

They become surfaces onto which humans project desire, identity and self-understanding.

Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pygmalion and Galatea (1890)
29.09.2026 · AE560929

Machine as Lover

Pygmalion creates an ideal human form and falls in love with his creation.Venus / Aphrodite grants the statue life.The question is not merely:Can we reproduce a human?but:Can we...
29.09.2026 · AE560929

Machine as Mirror

Artificial beings force us to ask what supposedly distinguishes us.If it moves like us?If it speaks?If it remembers?If it desires?If it creates?If it learns?By constructing the ...
Pygmalion working on his sculpture, illumination on parchment (14th century)
29.09.2026 · AE560929

Machine as Double

The artificial human is also a duplicate.A second body.A copy that may become difficult to distinguish from an original.The double turns technology into an identity problem:How ...