Synopsis of the conference announcement on the Internet - January 18th, 1996

The meeting is paradoxical - Prehistory to post-history, the emergence of a transculture?
The enigmas multiply in the title itself. The paradox continues. We are here at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, linked with Berkeley in the States, INRIA in Paris, France, and Lisbon in Portugal. It is the minuaturisation of the planet enabling a dialogue or rather a quadrilogue between people concerned with a reflection on Art. One fundamental question arises:

• Are we heading towards a new culture?
• What sort of culture?
• Why say transculture rather than a culture that is purely technical - inspired by politics influencing the media?

A 2nd paradox, symptomatic of our meeting and our times. On the 24th of December 1994, in the South of France, a grotto was discovered containing over 100 images of animals, dating back to the Solutrian period, 35000 years ago, much older than the Lascaux caves.
Another paradox. The discovery was announced everywhere. It was on the Internet only 3 weeks after its discovery. But an official order forbade access to the public.
This was already an indication that part of our culture in the future will be tangibly invisible, being only visible virtually. That is the idea of a transculture.
Here we are in the Museum of Decorative Art in Lausanne, at the exhibition of René Berger's son, Jacques-Edouard Berger, recently tragically deceased.
But something that is both paradoxal and beautiful is that his presence illuminates this exhibition - he dedicated his life to Art and Art is the mediator between all our civilizations. Culture should never be hermetic. When I look at an object of Art, I cease to think of it as an object. It reflects my soul and a part of eternity.

To get the synopses of Philippe Quéau's intervention (upper left), Bernard Allien's intervention ( middle ) and René Berger's intervention ( right ) click on the image.

Photos Souvenir: