Prophétie est une mémoire, la croyance est synthétique

Inspired by the remarkable scientific archives of medical education in Montpellier from the 12th to the 19th century, Mona Young-eun Kim’s exhibition unfolds as a dystopian narrative conceived in the form of archaeological vestiges. It invites visitors to imagine the beliefs and biological structures of this hypothetical future by juxtaposing facsimiles of historical books, reproductions of archival materials, and AI-generated works, alongside stained glass pieces and sculptures made of glass and resin.

These collections reflect and preserve the memory of a long-standing tradition of teaching and have, for many years, been studied, safeguarded, and valorized by the institutions that hold them. The 1956 film Toute la mémoire du monde by Alain Resnais, a documentary on the historic site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, inspired Mona Young-eun Kim’s exploration of the relationship between historical archives and artificial intelligence. The film evokes a time when the memory of the world was stored in physical libraries. Today, a new form of library seems to be added to those of the past, managed by artificial intelligences. Even though their mechanisms of indexation often remain opaque, and although they sometimes produce erroneous or approximate content, these systems are gradually becoming spaces for the preservation, processing, and production of memory.

The exhibition articulates a dialogue between two conceptions of memory: that of the past, handwritten and tangible, and that of the future, algorithmic and speculative. As if prophecy were born from an excess of memory, AI models trained on past data generate statements oriented toward the future. This idea—that the future can be deduced from the past, that memory becomes visionary—gave rise to the first title: Prophecy Is a Memory. This title also refers to a sound piece based on a reinterpretation of the Chansonnier de Montpellier.

The second part of the exhibition title, Belief Is Synthetic, takes the form of a short film. According to Mona Young-eun Kim, “this is neither about opposing belief and science, nor about defending syncretism, but about observing contemporary beliefs. I am speaking of a belief fabricated today: trust in technology, progress, and growth.” The term “synthetic” refers both to artificiality and to plastic. Developed since 2019, the universe of Plasticus reveals a future in which humanity would be physically and psychologically transformed through the ingestion of plastic, eventually founding a belief in the ingested material itself. A series of stained glass works reveals the forms of plastic molecules as if they were religious entities.
The video combines archival footage with AI-synthesized images generated from the same corpora in order to question our beliefs. This immersive experience projects the viewer into a world that places its faith in algorithmic deities.