DC Equipment
A DUTY TO
RE-ACT
This immersive, forward-looking installation offers a critical reflection on the role of civil disobedience in democracies. Here, this type of action is approached through an object, the Armlock, as a tool for collective citizen expression.
An Armlock
is a device that enables individuals to secure themselves around an anchored element
(such as buildings or other public infrastructures), or allowing several people
to hold on to each other by their arms.
This object gives its users the freewill to unlock themselves at any time, without however giving the possibility to an outside person to intervene to force the separation. Developed by non-violent civil resistance groups, this tool is characterized by its effectiveness in collective political actions.
The “DC Equipment” project gets its name from the term Civil Disobedience (Désobéissance Civil), which is defined as an organized collective militant action, generally peaceful, consisting in the non-compliance with a legislation due to political or ideological reasons.
The project was realized in collaboration with the collective "The Instruders" and presented at the festival "Avis de Tempête", an event on the theme of Transgression that took place in Paris from April 06th to April 08th 2023.
The artwork displayed was made up of different elements that resonated with one another. Among them, the Armlock was presented in different ways, on a scale that exacerbates its use and gives it another dimension, both material and symbolic. The complete list of exhibited objects included the following :
This object gives its users the freewill to unlock themselves at any time, without however giving the possibility to an outside person to intervene to force the separation. Developed by non-violent civil resistance groups, this tool is characterized by its effectiveness in collective political actions.
The “DC Equipment” project gets its name from the term Civil Disobedience (Désobéissance Civil), which is defined as an organized collective militant action, generally peaceful, consisting in the non-compliance with a legislation due to political or ideological reasons.
The project was realized in collaboration with the collective "The Instruders" and presented at the festival "Avis de Tempête", an event on the theme of Transgression that took place in Paris from April 06th to April 08th 2023.
The artwork displayed was made up of different elements that resonated with one another. Among them, the Armlock was presented in different ways, on a scale that exacerbates its use and gives it another dimension, both material and symbolic. The complete list of exhibited objects included the following :
1 - A
glass Armlock model as a symbol of collective civic expression. This
well-crafted object inspires both the transparency of the pacifist intentions
of its users, as well as fear of the risk of injury that might result from brutal
political action. During
the exhibition, the public was invited to touching and testing the object.
2 -
Prospective graphic studies of the shape of massive civil resistance movements
using the Armlocks system.
3 - A
reinterpreted "voting" process, asking the public to answer two
questions both in a personal commitment and facing society. Each participant
was then invited to slide these writings into an electoral ballot box, a symbol
of democracy.
What causes/values are you prepared to defend at the risk of breaking the law?
What place do you foresee for civil disobedience in a democracy?
What causes/values are you prepared to defend at the risk of breaking the law?
What place do you foresee for civil disobedience in a democracy?
4 - La
Horde, Photography (2023) – Tobie Chevallier in collaboration with The Instruders collective
As a mass of mingled bodies and welded together in the face of adversity, the resistance fighters in La Horde cling to a concrete block as if to anchor their conviction in the urban space. Lost in the mist, they fight against the tide for freedoms and the power of the collective, while a threat seems imminent.
In the installation DC Equipment, the shadow of the ballot box is projected onto the large print. This outlines a frame symbolically enveloping the activists' action, once again recalling the Armlock principle.
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As a mass of mingled bodies and welded together in the face of adversity, the resistance fighters in La Horde cling to a concrete block as if to anchor their conviction in the urban space. Lost in the mist, they fight against the tide for freedoms and the power of the collective, while a threat seems imminent.
In the installation DC Equipment, the shadow of the ballot box is projected onto the large print. This outlines a frame symbolically enveloping the activists' action, once again recalling the Armlock principle.
5 -
Open Source 3D-printed Armlock model, as a hull, to be filled with reinforcing
iron and cement.
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6 -
Prospectus presenting the Armlock Open Source system and use as well as the
values of Civil Disobedience.
7 - A
fictional report in which civil resistance gains momentum thanks to the wide distribution
of the Armlock and other mass-produced tools of pacifist resistance. This implies
a profound questioning of established political systems.
Top view of the installation :
