Module 01, Factory Clouds
ManMade Clouds

The exhibition at Galerie Ars Longa in Paris is the first of a series of informal presentations acting as a preparation for the forth-coming book “Man Made Clouds” by Helen Evans and Heiko Hansen (HeHe), and presents a selection from their ongoing poster collection. Following on from the first exhibit as part of the Nuage vert project at Mal au Pixel in Mains d’Œuvres, Saint Ouen in 2009, this time 22 posters are exhibited.

Although the images in the collection are diverse, taken from a range of contexts, they share a motif that is both curious and specific to this exhibition: All of the posters depict a factory and its industrial emissions. In each poster, the emissions take on an imaginary form to carry a particular message. In the exhibition, the factory emission comes alive as a fist, a flag, a tree or a celebrity. As an ensemble they represent an eclectic mix of symbols, stemming from different contexts and allowing a multitude of readings. Together they make us aware of the ever-changing representation of our made-made industrial emissions within the politics, activist movement, pop culture and art of the 20th century.

The most well-known and valuable piece in the collection is probably the original Atelier Populaire poster from the workshop at the Beaux Art de Paris, which produced the posters for the 1968 street uprisings. The cheapest might be the reprinted poster that was provided in digital format to us by Hacklab in Copenhagen, a protest poster against the UN Climate conference in Denmark, 2009. The work of Klaus Staeck is present with three posters, including his depiction of Germanys chancellor Angela Merkel - complete with glowing eyes - as she emerges from the clouds of an atomic cooling tower (Strahlende Zukunft, 2005), which matches perfectly with the poster featuring the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hovering in the clouds above an architectural hybrid of Auschwitz and a nuclear power plant (Ich will den atomaren Holocaust, 2007).

The collection hung on the walls of the gallery is accompanied by black and white A4 prints of other posters and imagery of factory clouds, collected by HeHe in digital format.

The Man Made Clouds book is scheduled to be published in the beginning of 2012 together with Editions-HYX Orléans.

The Posters in the exhibition

Norrköping. Sveriges = Manchester, Anonyme, 1930, re-produced by the Museum of Work Norrköping

Travailleurs - La lutte continue, L’Atelier Populaire, 1968

Latvijai Ekologisku Nakotni, Hubert Hoffmann, 1980

Hier stirbt der Wald, Hubert Hoffmann, 1980

Heute Tannen, morgen wir, Hubert Hoffmann, 1980

Endlich die Arbeit gerechter verteilen, Klaus Staeck, 1985

Bitterfeld 4400, Kleine Humbolt Gallerie, Oskar Manigk, 1989

Saubere Energie aus der Steckdose. Ihre Elektrizitätswerke, Klaus Staeck, 1992

Strahlende Zukunft, Klaus Staeck, 2005

Push the Button, The Chemical Brothers, 2005

Die Wolke (Affiche du film), 2006

An Inconvenient truth, The Ant Farm, 2006

Ich will den atomaren Holocaust, Il-Israel, 2007

Vihreä pilvi, de Valence, 2008

Pixelache University, Wojtek Mejor, 2008

Anti-Flag, Anti Flag, 2009

Nuage Vert aura-t-il-lieu?, Nina Heydorn, 2009

Our climate, not your business, Hacklab.dk, 2009

National Art Hate Week, Harry Adams, 2010

Inflammable, Compagnie Jolie Môme, Thierry Gatinet, Theatre Belle Etoile, 2010

Qui a peur du Nuage Vert?, HeHe, 2010

Incinération des déchets, quels risques pour la santé publique?, Philippe Bretelle, 2010

In collaboration with:

Editions HYX / http://www.editions-hyx.com
ArsLonga / http://www.arslonga.fr/
Pollinaria / http://www.pollinaria.org/
Art outsiders / http://www.art-outsiders.com/