OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 - Product Range Distribution - May 1968 - atelier populaire

The work of the Atelier Populaire from paris in May 1968 is all about political protest and the creation of posters and imagery associated with this. This creative Review article highlights an exhibition of the posters as well as their relevence today. A quote from the article about the posters reads - “weapons in the service of the struggle… an inseparable part of it. Their rightful place is in the centres of conflict, that is to say, in the streets and on the walls of the factories.”. 

In the interview with Johan Kugelberg they speak about the fact the artist have never been named and the works remain anonymous he explains - 'It’s not about “art” and the “artist”: it’s about ideas, self-starter activism and a do-it-yourself ethic. My hope is for this exhibition to inspire activism, especially amongst the youth. This do it yourself attitude is really interesting and is a large part of political works. The almost home made style is something that links many politicised works.

What importance do these posters played in the context of May 1968?

The media belonged to de Gaulle’s government – this was the means of communication that the students and the strikers had that they could rest assured was untainted and undoctored.

- This question from the interview is really interesting, as currently their is issues with the media and fake news these printed responses to the control of the media is a really inspiring way of doing things. Fake news and the media is another very current issue and could be interesting to explore. 

This poster translating to ' The struggle continues' is really impactful, all the works of the Atelier Populaire have a common link of being handmade and really impactful, as well as being printed in a singular colour these graphic responses seem to have really made the most of the technologies around them, this could be something to explore how technology relates to the outcomes. What technologies could be exploited today for political protest? Social Media? Does print have the same impact as it used to?