For 25 years, Brussels has been home to an active centre for digital art, known by the acronym iMAL (Interactive Media Art Laboratory), which cleverly echoes an email address and is therefore easy to remember. It is somewhat hidden from view, as it is located in Molenbeek, a part of the Belgian capital not typically associated with new technologies, but rather with traditions—often of Eastern origin. On the opening day of the new exhibition, the sun was shining, the sky was clear, and along the path by the Brussels Canal, fit, middle-aged men jogged to avoid heart attacks, while a gentle breeze spun the iconic, colourful pinwheels lining the canal.
As part of the Europalia España festival, iMAL presented the exhibition La Société Automatique (“The Automatic Society”), which challenges our fears and expectations surrounding the latest technologies. Today, many people are “afraid” of artificial intelligence, but Felix Sánchez, the Spanish artist living and working in Brussels, and I believe in it , consider it essential to harness AI for peaceful, including artistic, purposes. From my observations of Europalia—celebrating Spain, beloved by many, in 2025–2026 the festival has mobilised all Spanish creatives in Belgium: artists, dancers, musicians. I say this without a hint of criticism and with full support. The festival sheds light on the Spanish artistic diaspora, successfully integrated into the Belgian and European art scenes, and therefore not always highly visible—but certainly deserving of attention. The descendants of Francisco Goya are incredibly talented, wherever they live and create.
La Société Automatique offers a perspective on our near-future reality, where automation permeates every aspect of life, and robots, artificial intelligence, and machine-driven environments gradually replace human action. Felix Luque Sánchez invites viewers on an engaging journey through the complex relationship between humans and machines. Using diverse media—from robotics and photography to sculpture, film, music, and performance—the exhibition explores not only mechanisms of alienation but also forms of resistance, referencing cultural and artistic expressions that emerge as counterculture in response to technological expansion.
The exhibition’s title refers to a lecture by the philosopher Bernard Stiegler (1952–2020), delivered in 2012, in which he develops the concept of the “era of the automatic society”—a time when automation radically transforms how we live, communicate and work, prompting deep reflection on humanity’s future. Stiegler, a French philosopher and cultural theorist, was one of the most original thinkers on technology, time, and 21st-century society. He began his career as an engineer but took an unusual path to philosophy during imprisonment, where he read Husserl, Heidegger, and Derrida. After his release, he became a student of Jacques Derrida and later headed the Institute for Research and Innovation at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
Stiegler’s core idea is that technology is a fundamental part of human existence. He called it a “memory prosthesis”—an extension of human thought and experience. According to him, technology has always been the medium through which humans shape culture, knowledge, and self-awareness. In his lecture L’Ère de la société automatique (The Era of the Automatic Society, 2012), Stiegler describes a moment when algorithms and automation begin making decisions on behalf of humans. He argued that humanity is entering a new phase—the “automatic society,” where machines govern the economy, communication, and even culture. This, he suggested, could lead to a loss of our capacity to dream, create, and think independently. Nevertheless, Stiegler was not against technology. He believed automation could be an opportunity for humanity—if people learn to consciously manage technology, using it not for profit but for knowledge, creativity, and the common good.
This idea—both the hope and the anxiety of the machine age—is what Felix Sánchez explores in La Société Automatique, transforming Stiegler’s philosophical reflections into a visual and auditory experience.
Drawing inspiration from science fiction, he employs its aesthetic and conceptual frameworks to construct narratives and engage viewers through cultural clichés about technology. The result is work that combines technical sophistication with enigmatic uncertainty, simultaneously attracting and repelling the viewer. Watch the exhibition video and the interview with Felix:
The ultra-modern glass-and-metal building that now houses iMAL was once part of Molenbeek’s old industrial district, known for its workshops and factories from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a mechanical engineering and metalworking factory producing parts for machinery and equipment for coal and textile enterprises—hence the street’s name: Quai des Charbonnages / Koolmijnenkaai, which literally means “Coal Quay.” In the coming years, iMAL plans to explore the theme of “decarbonising computation” and to develop ideas for regenerative production ecosystems. In other words, the centre intends to engage with the “genius loci” of its location, reflecting the quay’s historical significance in its future projects.