Has the place of the artist become impossible?

On the occasion of Onda’s annual partners’ meeting, the Festival d’Avignon, the Institut français and Onda are offering a space for exchange, bringing together theatres and festivals from various contexts and continents. An inflatable frog standing before ICE troops in Portland represents the artist’s position today: a figure confronting the harsh realities of the world while preserving artistic autonomy and standing on the side of just causes. This is the “impossible place” described by Walter Benjamin in 1934. Juggling multiple allegiances, an emblem of awakening, the artist is also at the forefront of capitalist labour flexibility. What is to be done? In this round table, we ask whether dialogue and collaboration might weave a genuine collective intelligence capable of unsettling what is called artificial intelligence.