Many objects have a status more similar to that of a person or a creature than that of a simple object. Works of art – Western or non-Western, popular or contemporary –, or high-tech products – robots, machines, etc. – are regularly endowed, in their use, with unexpected capacities for action, which render them almost people. Like a child devoted to its cuddly toy or someone who curses their computer or mobile accusing it of being incompetent or stubborn. Like the shaman who calls on the spirits through a statuette resembling the gods.

This transfer or confusion that exists between human and non-human, and the specific and personalised relationship that connects them, in a wide variety of cultures, is the vast subject of this anthropological exhibition. A foray into robotics, through the pioneering work of Masahiro Mori, will provide an insight into the role of anthropomorphism in diverse artefacts, and what unfolds when a robot with an all too human appearance - or any work of intimidating realism - comes under our gaze, unsettling the beholder.

Some of the works in this exhibition may be inappropriate for younger visitors.