Curator: Thierry Dufrêne, professor of contemporary art history at the University of Paris Nanterre and art critic.

Intelligence is almost always associated with the ability to solve a problem through thought and reasoning, i.e. logic. In the age of digital technology and AI, 'intelligent machines' are augmenting human intelligence, making reasoning and problem solving faster. Some fear that they will even replace humans.

When creating, artists, while appealing to conscious logic, integrate primary unconscious processes that are just as fundamental as the latter: intuition, emotion, the subconscious, associations of ideas and sensations, etc. The common denominator of these processes is that they emerge and even occur largely before consciousness, i.e. automatically. Nor do they aim to solve problems, but rather to confront the spectator with the enigma that gave rise to them and still underlies them. The automatisms that the artist uses to create a work extend into the body and mind of the spectator, mobilising his or her unconscious.

The 'intelligence of art' is therefore more complex than ordinary intelligence and can be a model for a better understanding of the world, society and human relationships. It is a promising utopia.

The exhibition 'Intelligence, it's automatic!' tells the story of a century (1925-2025) of artistic creation based on automatism, from Surrealism to AI. The aim is to trace the stages and methods and to encourage reflection on the consequences for art and contemporary thought.

More than forty artists, half of them chosen by the exhibition curator Thierry Dufrêne and the other half from among the candidates selected for the NTAA 2025 biennial on the same theme 'Intelligence, it's automatic!'

Different generations of artists are presented. André Masson, Pol Bury, Bas Jan Ader, Piotr Kowalski, Claude Rutault and Renato Ranaldi form the basis of the pioneers of automatism. Marie-Laure Cazin, Jacqueline Dauriac, Ammar Bouras, Andres Burbano, Gregory Chatonsky, Nicolas Darrot, Peter De Cupere, Tom Dekyvere, Ken Matsubara, Gilbert Peyre, Cédric Plessiet, Niklas Roy, SLIDERS_lab [Frédéric Curien, Jean-Marie Dallet], Jan Svenungsson, Peter Zegveld, Christiaan Zwanikken were selected by Thierry Dufrêne.

The other artists, who travelled from all over the world, were selected by the jury to compete for the NTAA 2025 prize: their works are younger and use electronics, cybernetics and AI.