To celebrate its twentieth anniversary, the Regional Museum of Contemporary Art of Occitanie in Sérignan has invited curator Fabrice Bousteau to design a major, bold exhibition. “Stop The Machine!” will showcase over 400 works drawn from the Occitanie Region’s three contemporary art collections—Frac Occitanie Montpellier, Frac Occitanie Toulouse (Les Abattoirs), and Mrac Occitanie in Sérignan—spread across the museum’s 3,200 square meters of space.
Created using a hybrid approach, this exhibition combines traditional curatorial research with the exploration of artificial intelligence tools applied to classifying the vast body of works and planning their installation. The project began by considering what it means to work both “with” and “against” the machine to shape curatorial choices; ultimately, the colors of iconic works by Daniel Buren—such as the site-specific piece *Rotation* and *The Shattered Cabin*, with its colored light boxes—emerged as the natural choice for creating a unique, experimental exhibition layout.
Far removed from conventional thematic or chronological exhibitions, “Stop The Machine!” offers a sensory experience—a sequence of colors, shadows, and light, blending participation with contemplation. Works by 250 artists engage in dialogue, complementing or contrasting with one another on a fluid, labyrinthine journey that spans eras, practices, generations, and origins.