Les Immatériaux was curated by French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard and design theorist Thierry Chaput, along with a team of project managers and scientific advisors. It was organized in 1985 by the Centre Pompidou’s Center for Industrial Creation (CCI), which is renowned for its focus on artistic and technological experimentation and for promoting the crossover between art, science, and contemporary design.

The exhibition, based on the neologism immaterial, which in French has a double meaning—denial of materiality and plurality of meanings with new conceptions of the material—questioned the impact of the dematerialization of information on everyday life, the arts, and the sciences. By exploring the intersection between art, science, and technology, this «manifestation» put Lyotard’s concepts into practice. The exhibition examined the transition from the modern to the postmodern era, a period in which emerging technologies redefined the human relationship to the world. Free from a narrative and sequential spatial arrangement, Les Immatériaux proposed an alternative approach to the transmission of knowledge, diametrically opposed to that of the Exposition Universelle Internationale (Paris, 1889), which promoted a linear and narrative path focused on progress and technological innovation.

According to Lyotard, “Insecurity, loss of identity, and crisis are being experienced not only in the economic and social domains, but also in those of human sensibility, knowledge, powers (fertility, life, death) and ways of life (the relation to work, home, food, etc.)”. The exhibition investigated this statement and in doing so challenged conventional curatorial methods. The notion that the exhibition is a space for experimentation and questioning rather than mere demonstration was fundamental to the curatorial process.

Les Immatériaux consisted of 61 stations spread across the fifth floor of the Centre Pompidou which were divided among five paths: matériau [material]; matrice [matrix]; matériel [hardware]; matière [matter]; maternité [maternity]. The theme of each path derived from the shared etymological root “mât”, which refers to making by hand, measuring, or constructing.

The architects Philippe Délis and Katia Lafitte developed an experimental scenography based on the notions of immateriality and indistinctness. The structure of the exhibition was labyrinthine with no specific path imposed. Suspended screens of multi-layered metal mesh that differed in gradients of transparency divided the space into partitions, evoking the idea of fragmented construction associated with the term mât.

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Les Immatériaux is a precursor to Summoning the Ghosts of Modernity, an exhibition on view at the Medellín Museum of Modern Art from March 12 to June 15, 2025.