WORK / LIVE 干活 Paris-Gonesse

This exhibition, opened on 4 July 2023 in the hall of the MU1 factory, presents a selection of workers’ works from the book Régénération, the first collection of works and gestures from the Social Sensibility R&D Departments of Bernard Controls in Beijing-Daxing, Paris-Gonesse and Milan-Rho.

The book takes us back to a unique period: the pandemic. During the crisis and the recovery, some workers found ways to recharge, to have fun, to make reassuring gestures, to keep creating. We wanted to document these attitudes and creative strategies – attention to simple things, moments of “refuge” in the face of uncertainty. There is no ambition to be spectacular, only to share this sensibility with the world, modestly.

Whether they serve to keep busy, to soothe or to entertain, these artworks, design objects, images and rituals show how important artistic practice is at the most basic level, as a direct and intuitive response to an overwhelming crisis. Freed from its traditional connotations, artistic creation becomes a process of regeneration. These works express essential needs: reconnecting with nature, finding poetry in everyday life at home and at work, reclaiming time and space beyond operational routines. In their humility and refined aesthetics, these spontaneous creative acts reveal an idea of art in touch with everyday life: a fragile support in a chaotic world, a source of inner balance against pressure and the dematerialization of human relationships.

The book, with texts in English, French and Chinese, is available from La Centrale Edizioni and Amazon.

The works on show

Sergette Francillonne, Nathalie Marcos, Khim Goui
Cueillette

A moment “to ourselves”… Three women, operators in the same wiring unit, share a ritual: during the lunch break they look for four-leaf clovers near the factory car park. When the harvest is good, they keep their lucky charms in small plastic pouches, sometimes handmade, or in their phone cases. After two years of crisis, inflation and uncertainty about the future, the trio’s gesture is an act of resistance: warding off adversity in the shared quest for these precious amulets.

32Ch210
μ-M

She photographs mechanical parts the way she photographs flowers: in macro mode. At work she carefully chooses the angle and the position on a sheet of squared paper. Then there are the walks. With the same camera, in other places and other times, she watches for the freedom of living things – the opening of a corolla, the varieties of inflorescences, the strength of plants that grow against all odds in a crack in a wall or a crumbling breeze block. Between these two ways of being, her work dives into the subtlety of the microscopic to counter the disappointment of the macroscopic view.

Gilbert William Honoray
ஆதவன் கை வண்ணம் Soleil artisanal

Gilbert William Honoray gives shape to striking images drawn from childhood memories, films and cultural traditions. Since adolescence he has drawn, cut, modelled, sculpted and woven links between his personal life and collective imagery, secular or sacred, ancestral or generational. From discarded workshop cardboard he built a scale-model motorcycle, for him a symbol of escape and freedom. The sculpture holds references to one of the world’s oldest civilizations, in Tamil Nadu: everyday factory materials meet the ancient symbols of the Chera, Chola and Pandya dynasties, Tamil kingdoms of the 3rd century – the tiger, standard of the Chola empire; the two fish on the wheels, symbol of the Pandya dynasty; and the bow on the handlebars, emblem of the Chera kingdom.

Sorin Stanciu
Colombier, video, Gonesse, 2021

Sorin Stanciu has raised homing pigeons for a decade. In 2012 he took up this unusual sport with his son – something like training a team of athletes. Today he still looks after his pigeons every day, but in a more contemplative way: “I take care of the pigeons that made me happy.” One summer day he brought two pigeons to the office to film their flight at lunchtime, in a quiet spot by a lake. Gently he took a bird in his hands and out of its cage; reassured by the softness of his gestures, the pigeon flew up into the sky and back to the dovecote.

Ahmed Amadi
Strates, photography, 2021

“Near the painters’ booth there is a place where old paint pots pile up. Looking at the thick layer at the bottom of a tank, I began to notice the strata of colour. I framed these patterns in extreme close-up. I wanted everyone to see a fantastic landscape, without being able to guess the real subject of my photograph.”