WORK / LIVE 干活 Paris-Gonesse

With Relin Bellino, Adolphe Ékoumé, Elisabeth Agudze, Bakary Cissé, Samir Mezouar, Carole Cartier, Rabah Rabet, Sorin Stanciu, Ada Hennil, Yann Lebiot, Thierry Lafond, Ivana Boric, Zoran Colanic, Djamel Harrache, Michel Duvocelle, Juliette Pretesacque, Yves-Marie Saint-Martin and Sounkarou Dembélé. Introduction by Blandine de La Taille.

“Since spring 2016 I have been involved in building a Social Sensibility R&D Department at the Bernard Controls site in France. Our second project, Time Inside, invites the workers to think of time as experienced beyond the clock and to translate each personal perception into a conceptual artistic form. Paradoxically, in an environment where time is measured in terms of efficiency, they found ways to create instant, powerful and poetic works.

“From our discussions came the idea of a calendar, with one milestone a month: each month presents the work of one worker or a group. The piece is shown in the Art Lab set up in the factory; all employees are invited to the opening, where the authors present their work, and throughout the month colleagues can visit and share their thoughts.”

January – Relin Bellino, Meridiana. Digital collage, 2016.

February – Adolphe Ékoumé, Chronologie des événements. Calligraphic notebook, 2016.

March – Elisabeth Agudze, 5 mois / 18 jours. Tin melted on a photograph, 10 × 15 × 5 cm, 2016.

April – Bakary Cissé and Samir Mezouar, Dégradé d’usure. Installation of transport pallets, 200 × 100 × 60 cm, 2016.

May – Carole Cartier and Rabah Rabet, Le temps est un ressort. Assemblage, 2016.

June – Zoran Colanic, untitled. Pen on paper, 2016. “You run to where you go… In the end, it ends. Happiness in life lies in the meantime.” “The sun rises, humans are born, go to school, rush to grow up and run in the same direction. Then comes retirement, and that is exactly when they all turn round and look back. They try to walk against a moving walkway leading to the sunset… Never mind, here is this drawing anyway.”

July – Ivana Boric, Yann Lebiot, Thierry Lafond and Frank Bonnet, Espace-temps. Photograph, 2016. Colleagues stand on the steps of the staircase leading to their offices in order of seniority at Bernard Controls; the distance between them matches the years between their hiring dates.

August – Djamel Harrache, Je n’ai pas le temps… Engraving and writing on wood, 2016.

September – Juliette Pretesacque, Hydratension. Installation, 2016. “Every day I order a bottle of water from the canteen and take it to my office. In the afternoon I use it as a flask; when the level drops I refill it at the fountain, like an hourglass I turn over. At the end of the day the level in the bottle is always different…”

October – Michel Duvocelle, Temps libre. Aluminium and brass sculpture, 2017. Michel makes steel parts. After the Christmas holidays the materials had not been delivered and he had some spare time at work: he made a house from an aluminium cube, using his machines for the first time for a personal, aesthetic idea. The next day the materials arrived, and time flew away…

November – Yves-Marie Saint-Martin, Washer Shower. Diverted technical drawing, digital, 2017.

December – Sounkarou Dembélé, Tool Bandage, 2017.