The Illusion of Thinking

The Illusion of Thinking is a group exhibition that explores the overlooked implications of artificial intelligence and its assumed capacity to think and reason. While AI often suggests genuine cognition, it primarily mirrors human ideas through recall and imitation, raising fundamental questions about the nature of understanding itself.

As AI systems become increasingly embedded in everyday life, the exhibition challenges dominant narratives of technological progress and the pursuit of sentient intelligence. It examines the limits of optimization, the complexity of learning, and the infrastructural conditions that shape AI’s development.

By looking beyond the desire for computational consciousness, The Illusion of Thinking reflects on the value systems and myths surrounding technological innovation—and what might be lost in the ongoing drive for efficiency. The exhibition invites us to reconsider what thinking truly means, both for machines and for ourselves.

Artists

Constant Dullaart

ID.ACCO (Dirk Paesmans)

Femke Herregraven

Flavia Dzodan

Evelina Rajca

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

Other contributors

Nora O’ Murchú

Florian Weigl

The exhibition and publication are part of V2_’s long-term curatorial research into Artificial Inequality. Following Reasonable Doubt (2021), which examined the structural injustices reinforced by technical systems, and {class} – On Consequences in Algorithmic Classification (2023), which explored how algorithmic categorization shapes society, The Illusion of Thinking (2025) mark