Digital October – Shaping the World
Mathilde Reynaud FR
The Language of Moths
Experimental video game
October 23 through January 17, 2027
, Wednesday through Sunday, 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Galerie de la Librairie du Palais
Arles
Free entrance
Cast
– Dramaturgy of Textual Memories: Esther Meunier Corfdyr and Mathilde Reynaud
– 3D Computer Graphics: Mathilde Reynaud
– Additional 3D Art for the Moth: Thomas Leon
– Additional 3D Art for the Mark II: Damien Baïs
– Game Design Development: Damien Baïs and Mathilde Reynaud
– Programming + Electronics: Damien Baïs
– Sound Environment and Sound Design: Tristan Soreau
– Glass Blowing with a Torch: Eléonore Gold-Dalg
Credits
A CHRONIQUES CRÉATIONS platform project.
Co-production: PLÉIADES – Arts & Sciences Network, La Fruitière Numérique, Festival Octobre Numérique – Faire Monde, Le Safran – Amiens Métropole’s subsidized theater. Project supported by Le Fresnoy – National Studio for Contemporary Arts
“The Language of Moths ” lies at the intersection of experimental video games and immersive installations, blending contemplative exploration, video essays, and interactive fiction.
A projection of a forest reveals scattered memories in the form of short 3D video sequences, before immersing the audience in the world of the first documented computer bug: in 1947, a moth caused the Mark II—a computer co-designed by Grace Hopper—to malfunction. The nonlinear narrative unfolds in a 10- to 15-minute loop. Viewers are invited to collect fragments of memory to reconstruct a collective imagination.
The physical installation reflects this cyclical logic. A translucent white veil floats above a bench, while an entomological lamp—identical to those that attract moths—turns on and off in time with the game’s loop restarting. Seated on the bench, visitors find themselves in the position of the moth: without any deliberate action, their mere presence reenacts the insect’s interruption in 1947, becoming the contemporary “bug” that opens a fissure in the machine toward an alternative imagination of technology. Each viewer thus becomes the unwitting agent of a new disruption, transforming the installation into a catalyst for narrative possibilities.
Interaction, freed from traditional mechanics of success, failure, or conquest, focuses on atmosphere and text-based dialogue. This approach aims to create an empathetic experience where exploration takes precedence over strategy.
As part of the Octobre Numérique – Faire Monde festival
At the intersection of contemporary art and new technologies, the Octobre Numérique – Faire Monde festival presents annual exhibitions, discussions, performances, lectures, screenings, evening events, and artistic video games in Arles. The festival pioneers avant-garde practices, sparks debate, and explores virtual worlds that are more inclusive, open, and sustainable.
Mathilde Reynaud
Mathilde Reynaud, a digital artist born in 1994, lives and works in Saint-Étienne (Loire, France).
A graduate of the Saint-Étienne School of Art and Design, she studied at Kookmin University in South Korea. She then joined the Digital Research Unit at the Beaux-Arts de Lyon, and later the Fresnoy – National Studio for Contemporary Arts.
Her artistic practice revolves around 3D computer graphics, a medium she approaches as a tool for empowerment, from a feminist perspective. Through installations, videos, and video games, she explores the connections we form with virtual environments and the ecosystems they generate. Through these works, she seeks to foster dialogue among these possibilities that coexist between the real and the virtual. Her work, built around fictional narratives, veers toward a form of science fiction, opening up avenues for reflection on science, nature, otherness, and feminism. Stories that present sensitivity and consideration for others as a way of life, in order to imagine alternative technological futures.
His work has been exhibited in France, South Korea, Latvia, Armenia, and Senegal.
