At a time when the boundaries between the real and the fictional are blurring, the Archipel | Genesis series becomes a powerful metaphor for the challenges we face. As Yacine Aït Kaci himself explains:

‘The idea for Archipel came from a deep reflection and a metaphor that I've been exploring for a long time. The current form dates back to 2020, at the time of the emergence of Metaverse, which I investigated a great deal.(...) The Archipel embodies the idea of a decentralised network: fragments, islands, that connect to create a coherent whole. This is also how generative artificial intelligences work, assembling fragments to produce a unified work. In 2022 and 2023, in the face of mounting crises and the crumbling of multilateralism, the metaphor has taken on a new resonance: that of a world to be reinvented, where everyone, from their own island, contributes to recreating a collective archipelago’.

Each suspended island, created using generative AI algorithms, embodies the tensions between isolation and interconnection, otherness and unity. These digital landscapes are both utopian dreams and warnings of the major upheavals threatening the planet.

Here, Yacine Aït Kaci draws on the concept of ‘post-reality’, using techniques derived from immersive media and AI, not to deceive the public, but to reveal profound truths. These ‘true false’ islands confront viewers with their own beliefs and perceptions of a world in constant and profound redefinition.