Séquence #4 : Complotisme

Sequence #4:Conspiracy Theories
From 23 September 2022 to 19 February 2023

The Sequence

Rumours, gossip, fibs, manipulations, alternative interpretations, insinuations and calumny… If the Internet were a world-wide supermarket, it would be the disinformation and fake news aisle that would probably provide the most sustenance to proponents of conspiracy theories, to people who are looking for threats, signs and above all scapegoats.

And yet, the Web didn’t invent conspiracy theories. In the West, ever since the Middle Ages, people have regularly believed in the existence of a nefarious and all-powerful secret project (one example being the fake rumours that were deliberately spread for military reasons or as part of religious discrimination). Scurrilous propaganda reached new heights in the 19^th and above all the 20^th century with the arrival of mass media (publishing and newspapers, followed by illustrated magazines, the radio, the cinema and finally television). In 1899, the novelist Gustave Le Rouge decided to address the question of conspiracy theories by basing the plot of his series La Conspiration des milliardaires on the machinations of some very rich individuals whose aim was to control the world. In this futuristic narrative, scientific and technological research comes under the sway of American finance and acts solely in the interest of a handful of insiders.

The Internet and its incredible ability to amplify phenomena has already blithely broadcast conspiracy theories, but not only are these theories becoming more numerous and diverse, they are also spreading even more quickly and to more and more people. To take just one example: at the beginning of the 2000s, the Internet brought the obscure Illuminati back into fashion, thereby making its own a myth that had been on the decline since the beginning of the 19^th century. The Illuminati (who were originally known as the Bavarian Illuminati) were a secret society of free thinkers founded in the 1770s. There are people who believe they still exist today. They are portrayed in social media as an organisation that has secretly infiltrated governments and take the form of revolutionary groups, organisations of Freemasons, Jewish movements and satanists. Some people consider them to be part of an alien invasion (usually the lizard-like kind). In most cases, the underlying idea is one of secret domination and a parallel network that is working to keep or take power in order to establish a New World Order.

A conspiracy narrative presents a simplified view of the world, a way of interpreting events and phenomena as seen through the prism of one founding idea. Conspiracy theories often thrive on fear, whilst simultaneously encouraging these fears. These complex and protean theories are constantly updated to take current events into consideration. They surf the Web, moving here and there and making a critical attitude to information found on the Web more vital than ever before.

In Sequence #4, the Lavoir Numérique takes an interest in conspiracy theories from an audio-visual perspective. En quête de complots combines both parody and a more serious approach and sets out to analyse the world of conspiracy theories from the inside. The exhibition takes the form of a series of videos and is accompanied by different events and a film cycle.

Michaël Houlette,

The Lavoir Numérique and Maison Doisneau management team.