1 Introduction by Lilia Mestre 4-5 Anu Pennanen & Stéphane Querrec 6-11 Einat Tuchman 12-17 Alessandra Coppola 18-23 Eleonora Sovrani 24-29 Agency 30-38 Interviews: Esther Severi Editing: Joanna Bailie Design: Miriam Hempel - www.daretoknow.co.uk Published by: Bains Connective – 2012 Photos: Silvano Magnone – www.silvanomagnone.com page 24-29: Eleonora Sovrani. Thematics Micro Histories ran between February 27 and April 20 2012 with Anu Pennanen (FI) & Stéphane Querrec (FR), Einat Tuchman (IL/BE), Alessandra Coppola (IT/BE), Eleonora Sovrani (IT/BE) and Agency (BE) as artists in residence. Thematics Micro Histories was a project by Bains Connective, curated by Lilia Mestre / Bains Connective in collaboration with a.pass. Bains Connective thanks the artists and partners. 3 Thematics Micro Histories Introduction by Lilia Mestre Thematics Residency Micro Histories: Introduction — Lilia Mestre Thematics Micro Histories was a two-month research What kind of knowledge is produced or residency focusing on artistic practices that deal processed within these practices? What is with art and ethnographic paradigms. Once again the political stance of these approaches Thematics was concerned with artistic approaches and their authorship? What is the directly related to field research and participatory relationship between micro and macro practices, and art that is involved with the study of history? And last but not least, what socio-cultural phenomena and situates it self as a kind of aesthetics emerge from these co-actor in their reconstruction. practices? All the projects used the local community Field research and participatory as a work frame and related to different practices open the framework to a artistic, social and political concerns. complexity of actors inherent to the The variety of interests was wide-ranging: chosen situation. Allowing these actors from the observation of localities such to be active participants in the process as Saint-Josse-ten-Noode and the European of art making in terms of their relations, Quarter, to the case of the former workers their context, their encounters, their of the Renault Factory in Vilvoorde, political, economic and social aspects, private encounters dealing with intimacy indicates a desire to consider the art and authenticity, and the re-visitation work (and life) as a convergence of of intellectual property issues. factors that exist besides the artist him or herself. During this research period, strategies, methodologies, processes of documentation This kind of work involves ‘the other’, and presentations of singular micro- the one that we don’t know yet, and will histories were investigated and shared. perhaps never know. What forms the work The artists worked in different in these approaches is the process of environments in and around Brussels negotiation and the strategies that make focusing on singular cases, using the emergence of affective relationships different modes of observation and taking possible. The artist becomes the conductor positions that were inherent to the way or mediator, and the artwork a vehicle for the experiences were translated and took the encounter. In these procedures the place as art forms. sense of commitment and responsibility is constructed by all parties and becomes The questions that were raised concerned part of the discursive practice. all the practices. They did not suggest a common answer but instead a It seems that there is a strong desire constellation of problematics to be dealt to become part of a larger field of with. What are the ways of approaching knowledge, to confront and destabilize field research? What is the role of the one’s own criteria, and individual artist in the making of art that is views about the existence of ‘things’ – created in negotiation with ‘the other’? not to analyze just by dissecting and What are the ethical paradigms? What is finding the lowest common denominator, the friction between the objective and but by bringing together, enlarging and the subjective? observing the resonance that occurs. 4 5 Thematics Micro Histories Anu Pennanen and Stéphane Querrec They explained, for example, that workers Anu Pennanen (FI) and can strike for a few weeks, and during these weeks the union pays the workers. Stephane Querrec (FR) The main motivation was to fight against the closure of their factory, but some of the workers, namely the ‘hardcore group’, decided to go beyond these secured weeks Esther Severi: You are working on a Vilvoorde before the residency at Bains because they wanted to fight for their particular subject – the closure of Connective in order to do research and jobs and keep the factory open. the Belgian branch of the Renault meet the workers. There was a slow factory in Vilvoorde. When and why did process of getting to know them and Among the workers the question at the you become interested in this topic? of gradually building up trust over time of the strike was: should we accept time. We understood that it would be the redundancy payment the bosses are Stéphane Querrec: When Anu and I beneficial to stay in Brussels longer offering us or should we strike and started working together, we both felt in order to work with them and to be negotiate to keep the factory open? Right that the idea of human obsolescence committed to the project. here a division was strategically created today was a very important topic. It by the bosses, and yet a few workers has become commonplace inasmuch as Anu Pennanen: I’ve worked at specific decided to unite in solidarity and lose people belonging to various classes locations in different cities such as Meeting of the hardcore group of strikers money in order to fight for their rights from Vilvoorde 1997, taken at the Bains as a group. find themselves treated or considered Tallinn, Liverpool and Paris. I don’t Connective office in 2012. Organized by like rubbish because they have alost find working in Belgium particularly Anu Pennanen and Stephane Querrec. their job. So back in 2010 when I was exotic. We were both trying to find an From left to right: Jan de Reymacker, Benny During our meetings with them we tried in Belgium for a few weeks for an art interesting site to trigger the work – Pierard, Stan van Hulle, Albert Vanwinn, André to create a collective discussion in Fontaine, Danny Pierard and Patrick van Aelst project, I went to Limburg and visited an architecture or an environment that order to get away from their personal the old mines there and I suddenly has a specific meaning now, but which histories. Of course, everyone had their remembered the factory workers in is going to change in the future. Film ES: During your stay at Bains Connective, own way of dealing with this situation, Vilvoorde. In France, the workers at is the proper means to treat a subject you worked a lot on the contact with the and on a personal level there were also Renault Vilvoorde made themselves that is about to vanish because there workers. How did the communication with tensions and different views back then. heard when they came to Paris and is an aspect of commemoration attached them take place? Were people willing to It was important to go beyond that, but to the North of France to strike. to it as a medium. Stéphane presented tell you about what happened? Were they even so we met the workers individually That’s how I found out about it at the idea of the factory at Vilvoorde. interested in the fact that this was an and heard their stories, views and that time. Finding myself in front of It’s a different kind of space because artistic project? experiences. Working in a factory those beautiful decaying factories in it has nothing of the romantic elements gave them a real sense of identity, of Limburg my immediate feeling was that of old factories. In fact there are SQ: The first ex-workers we met who belonging – the factory was a family visiting old factories is very romantic. memories that are nostalgic and answered our questions were as usual the history. However, the beauty overshadows the romantic, but the work itself and the people who wanted to talk about their past and present working conditions in way a factory functions is not romantic lives, about what the situation was like ES: Did they ask you questions about factories, and it does not reveal in at all. We were also interested in the for them now, about how it ended at the your project, about the making of the particular the system operating within supposedly flat Belgian environment, factory and their survival after that. We film? them and the relations at stake: those which has a peculiar beauty. However, had to reframe our questions carefully, binding workers with other workers and above all we wanted to bring to the explaining that we were making a news SQ: The purpose of our stay at Bains their bosses. So I told Anu the story fore the people, the end of their story for a TV channel, that we were Connective was to ‘discover’ our film. of Renault Vilvoorde and we started to manual labour in the factory and the not making a documentary, and that we We didn’t know exactly if we would think about what happens to workers experience of obsolescence. Nowadays were not so interested in their personal take a documentary approach or a who give 20 years or more of their life we can all relate to these changes in history but rather in their collective more fictional course of action based to their factory. Little by little society because everyone is in danger history, as engaged members of a union, upon facts.