The Talking Cure is a 2022 video series, live talk show, and installation produced by TBCS for the group exhibition The Real Show at CAC Bretigny (January–April 2022). The project examines the role of voice, dialogue, and “the popular” in a moment when popularity itself shapes politics, public health, information, democracy, and cultural production.
Through The Talking Cure, we ask: Who speaks for “the people”? How do popular media technologies amplify, distort, or exploit our voices? And how might artists and cultural practitioners use these tools differently—to expand agency, deepen dialogue, and move beyond the echo chambers of contemporary art?
At its core, the project treats talking not as noise, but as a collective practice of reflection and care—an attempt to rethink how we gather, listen, and imagine public life together.
Each video includes music by participants in the Disquiet Junto project, created within the context of Disquiet Junto Project 0515: The Talking Cure. Image, sound and editing by The Big Conversation Space. Graphic design identity and social media strategy by Elisabeth Ajtay. Translation and subtitles by Philippe Farah. With special guests and participants including Camila Moreira Cesar, Elisabeth Ajtay, Nairy Shahinian, Cynthia Montier, Marc Weidenbaum, and the students of the Classe préparatoire arts visuels Grand Paris Sud (Evry-Courcouronnes).
Image: Sigmund Freud’s Couch (Le divan de Sigmund Freud). Photograph by Robert Huffstutter via Flickr // CC BY 2.0
Episode 1: The People’s Choice
This episode explores how social media shapes democracy, creativity, and the notion of popularity. We ask: How has social media changed the way we decide who to vote for? How can it be used democratically in politics? What does it mean to be popular, and how does popularity affect creative work? And how do we respond to social media fatigue?
Featuring special guests: Camila Moreira Cesar, PhD, Lecturer in Communication sciences at University Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Paris; Elisabeth Ajtay, artist; Nairy Shahinian, artist and photographer; Cynthia Montier, artist.
Episode 2: Parallel Play with the Disquiet Junto
In this episode, we explore parallel play in musical creation, examining how collaborative and individual work intersect when engaging with shared resources. What is collective creation, and how can it coexist with individual agency? What role does technology, including memory systems, play in this process? How do giving and receiving shape creative production? And what does it mean to engage both intimately and solitarily with a shared collection or task?
Featuring special guests Marc Weidenbaum and members of the Disquiet Junto. Special thanks to bassling, Paul Beaudoin, ChalkWalk, Paul Reiners, 33per, Lazenbee Industries, nikikana, and all of the Disquiet Junto – past, present, and future.
Episode 3: The Voice of (The) People
In this episode, we explore how to cultivate togetherness and understanding that honors both joy and pain, and the aspects of love that inspire growth. How can we take agency over algorithms to discover more of ourselves and each other? How can we be visible without being absorbed by a system or institution? How does isolation differ from solitude? How can we truly listen to our own voices and those different from our own? What is the relationship between togetherness and individuality in this process?
Featuring students of the Classe Préparatoire arts visuels Grand Paris Sud, Evry Courcouronnes (FR) and visual artworks from the #SpreadLoveNotCorona_VIRUS project by Nairy Shahinian.