1964 is my thesis for the DNSEP completed at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Besançon (France).

Public space, this shared living space, constantly undergoes metamorphosis, continually expanding into our daily lives. Influenced by the media, it infiltrates the intimacy of each individual, while increasing consumerism privatizes it, challenging its very nature. Collective awareness is growing regarding advertising manipulation, as evidenced by works such as Naomi Klein’s No Logo, Régis Debray’s Vie et mort de l’image, or Guy Debord’s La société du spectacle over the years.

My research endeavors to understand the ramifications of these strategies and explore new perspectives. I am particularly interested in the impact of images scattered throughout the city, their influence on urban geopolitics and architecture, as well as the complex system of signs that shape our environment and the marketing techniques that underlie them. This study will reveal the emergence of artistic and graphic expressions that attempt to address these issues.

We will observe that a multitude of movements are mobilizing today against visual pollution and its consequences. In this world where time is money and urban space is burdened by the weight of signs, how can we act to counter the various forms of power that enslave us? To be free is to resist the dominant forces, to fight against oppression, to adapt and transform our living conditions, to transcend the constraints of our existence. How can we silently disrupt established systems in public space to better navigate ourselves? What are the responses of artists and graphic designers? How can we break free from the constraints imposed by the market society and its conditioning?

As John Berger explains: “In our urban world, in the streets where we walk, in the buses we take, in the magazines we read, on the walls, on the screens, we are surrounded by images of an alternative way of life. We might want to forget these images, but briefly we capture them, and for a moment they stimulate our imagination, through memory or anticipation?”

Format: A5, 14.8 x 21 cm (closed format)
Printing: inkjet
Project type: student