Crowds of People

Feb 28, 2012 | editions en, local contemporain en

Texts by Daniel Bougnoux, Jean-Pierre Chambon, Luc Gwiazdzinski, Henry Torgue, Philippe Mouillon, Bernard Mallet, Xochipilli

Images by Maryvonne Arnaud.

No-one likes a crowd. A crowd is the exact opposite of the individual as king of all he surveys, who in contemporary ideology is persuaded he is at the centre of the universe, making his own choices, divorced from all social pressures.

The media would have us all believe that crowds exist in menacing countries and are from another era: political cohorts in Iran, religious ones in Burma, the masses suffering floods or earthquakes, or more than that, in wealthy countries, the memories of political movements no longer current: political demonstrations, liturgies of anger…

In day to day life, the word “crowd” is no longer proffered to describe those flocking to shopping centres, the conspicuous collective consumption, the traffic jams repeated over and over in the suburbs or our systematic use of public transport.

Nontheless, if pushed from the forefront of our minds, relegated to “elsewhere” or “in the past”, crowds are never far from our lives. Public audiences consistently gather us to one spot, while the media and the latest communication technology form the crowds of our modern age.

Trying to make ourselves aware of the fantastic potential energy of our collective lives, this is a burgeoning vista of aspects of “being together” before it becomes just part of everyday normality for the masses. It’s a major issue because we can never escape being part of a crowd.

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Fragility, today’s questions

Feb 28, 2012 | editions en, local contemporain en

Texts by Bruno Latour, Yves Citton, Janek Sowa, Stefano Boeri, Lionel Manga, Henry Torgue, Daniel Bougnoux, Philippe Mouillon

Images by Maryvonne Arnaud.

Sound chronicles by Laurent Grappe

We don’t really have the mental geography that fully equips us to live in today’s world… It’s this claim by philosopher Bruno Latour when we first met that gave rise to the wish to shine a light on how to interpret and represent reality escaping through our fingers like the sands of time. We have chosen to test this fragility in how the world works, the paradox of a society greedy for images and information, to test it by considering the insecurities of our age.

Beyond the obvious and lamentable social fragility, insecurity is one of those great polarising forces of the european social experiment. In a survey carried out in France in December 2007 more than 50% of the inhabitants cited insecurity as one of their main worries, so that it seems that fear of being poor exceeds the actual incidence of it.

To be able to live in this world, to change it, you have to understand how this modern day fear has been created. It’s this work of social (re-)engineering that artists and philosophers from all over Europe are invited here to participate in.

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sur(exposée) tchétchénie

Feb 28, 2012 | editions en, local contemporain en

Images by Maryvonne Arnaud,

Text by Abdelwahab Meddeb.

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dans le ventre d’Alger

Feb 28, 2012 | editions en, local contemporain en

DVD 10’30 all zones

publishing Cocottesminute prod.

15€

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a step into the light

Feb 28, 2012 | editions en, local contemporain en

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Introduction by Philippe Mouillon

Texts by Nicolas Charvet, Gilles Clément, Bachir Mefti, Youssez Seddik,

Original images by Rachid Koraïchi, Daniel Laskarin, Farid Belkahia, William Kentridge, Gonçalo Ivo, Ene Kull, Ammar Bouras, Liz Rideal, Pinaree Sanpitak, Jyoti Bhatt, Richard Prince, Abderrazak Sahli, Meelis Salujärv, Gülsun Karamustapha, Ester Grinspum, Manisha Parekh, Denis Martinez, Rekha Rodwittiya, Sumi Wakiro, Lu Shengzhong, Nicola Durvasula, Adel El Siwi, Adlane Djeffal, Jacqueline Fabien.

Photographs by Philippe Mouillon and Maryvonne Arnaud