France Cadet

France Cadet, born in 1971, in a French digital and robotics artist whose work ironically raises questions about various aspects in science debates. First teaching as a volume and robotic professor at the Ecole Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence (2000-2011), she has now joined The School of the Art Institute of Chicago as an associate professor and chair at the Art and Technology Studies department. In addition, she has been giving robot-like training workshops for several years.
Ms. Cadet came from a background in science before turning to artistic studies. Known by her robotic and bio-oriented multi-media installations which combine these two interests, she has done solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, in Europe, Asia (Japan, Korea, China...), Brazil and United-States. Her works is regularly exhibited in international new-media festivals such as Ars Alectronica, Exit, Sonar, Emoção Artificial... likewise in traditional contemporary Art galleries and museums (CAAC in Sevilla, Quadrum Gallery in Lisbon, Pascal Vanhoecke Gallery and Palais de Tokyo in Paris) and Art fairs (ARCO in Madrid, Art Paris and SLICK in Paris…).
She received the 1st Prize of VIDA 6.0, an Art & Artificial Life International competition in Madrid, and was mentioned by the Digital Stadium Awards in Tokyo. Her work was also purchased by the Museum of Contemporary Art, the MEIAC in Spain.
Most of France Cadet’s artworks tackle serious problems but in an ironic and ludic way: funny toys, pleasant games, charming pets, cute robots…
In a large part of her work she uses a commercial robotic dog on which she performed surgery, customized their forms, and reprogrammed them with unusual behaviours. These new strange creatures allow her to embody questions concerning contemporary anxieties about biotechnology, animals rights, dangers of cloning, eugenics, and to make a critical social comment about ethical questions and possible consequences of a technologically driven future, through ironical caricaturization but which is based on very-real facts.