Les Machines de l'Imaginaire

Author: Joëlle Bitton
DEA Thesis under the direction of: Pascal Griset
University: Paris IV Sorbonne
Year: 1998 - 1999
Picture above: Galerie des Machines, Paris, 1889, François Dutert (built for the Paris World's Fair of 1889)

Abstract: "Imagination under influence".
Social, political and artistic effects of the emerging technologies and networks in the 19th century.

This thesis traces the emergence of technologies and networks in the 19th century and their particular influence on social and collective imaginations.
This research is rooted in the history of ideas, of fears and fantasies, of myths and opinions
associated with technology. It examines how people, across time, integrated new machines
into their everyday lives and questions how they made sense of them.
With respect to humans’ contemporary relationships with technology and networks, it is
provocative to reflect upon historical reactions to the telegraph, the train, or the camera.
People invested emotionally in those machines, far beyond their immediate functions. To
some, they represented ways to enhance human senses or powers like communication,
transportation, vision and strength; in this sense, they were “miracle machines”. To others,
new technology was the sign of decadence, taking humans further away from their roots in
nature.
To take a stand for or against technology, therefore, had broad connotations if seen within
the context of political stakes. Emerging networks that helped bridge geographical distances
could, for instance, be thought of as uniting people across countries and building
communities.
Those projected utopias and fears, indicative of the evocative power of technology were
probably best translated in the arts and literature; the creativity generated by mythology
surrounding machines led to some of the early steps of modern media art.

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