Museum Tinguely
Until March 7, 2027

Fuzzy logic, a type of artificial intelligence that allows computers to deal with “fuzzy” concepts, mimics human reasoning. It doesn’t just have the strictly binary 1 (yes, true) or 0 (no, false) distinction, but works with gradations to describe states like warm or cool linguistically rather than strictly mathematically. Nicolas Darrot’s “Fuzzy Logic” characters are full of insecurities and mood swings; their dancing is spontaneous, their acting is complex, their talent imperfect.

Darrot (*1972) lives and works in Paris. In his sculptural and installation-based work, he creates robot puppets, automata and mechanical figures that move between theater, technology, and mythology. The artist programs these works himself. This interplay of craft skills and digital mastery developed after he graduated from the Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1998, when he worked as part of a special effects team in film production, an experience that had a key influence on his subsequent works. His studio is a workshop and a programming suite in one, where precision meets chance, as motion sequences constructed with to-the-millimeter accuracy lead to unpredictable choreographies. This deliberate openness has become an artistic principle.

“Fuzzy Logic” transforms Basel’s smallest exhibition space, a former telephone booth at Museum Tinguely, into a stage for automated figures, presenting a selection from Darrot’s series of the same name in five acts. Visitors activate the Theatre of Automatons themselves by scanning the barcode on a custom-designed playing card, whereupon the figure comes to life, singing, dancing and moving according to its own fuzzy logic. The movement of certain figures is determined by chance. For some works, Darrot composes and programs the soundtracks himself, for others he uses recordings or works with musicians—each element is an integral part of the overall experience.

https://www.tinguely.ch/en/exhibitions/exhibitions/2026/nicolas-darrot.html

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