May 68 in Gironde. It is the story of a series of events which took place in May-June of the year 1968. A series which is part of a national movement, even international: national by the general rise of a feeling contesting the established order and distrust of those who embody it; international by calling into question the supervisory authorities by young people in many parts of the world.

After a preamble questioning the notions of boredom and comfort with regard to the political, social and student situations of the spring of 1968, “The beginnings of a prolonged struggle” first of all takes stock of the challenge to the traditional order embodied in it. by the communist / Gaullist binary opposition, and the emergence of new tendencies and forms of political action. Three major events on May 7, 13 and 15 make it possible to grasp its meaning and scope, in particular through the variety of slogans and representations of the movement, materialized by a “forest” of signs and banners.

“This is only the beginning, let's continue the fight”, is the place of expression: strikes, occupations of factories, universities and high schools see students and workers participating in events in the form of debates in committees with variable and fluctuating geometries. Illustrated by period photographs and films, this emulation resulted in an abundant production of leaflets, of which facsimiles were made available to visitors, and of posters which again found their primary function.

But the protest movement was going to harden and become exasperated around the two interventions of the President of the Republic of May 24 and 30. “The fist of no return” begins with the occupation of the Grand-Théâtre on the 23rd, continues in the evening of the 24th, reaching its climax on the night of the 25th, and continues in rural areas at the end of the month, in Blayais and Entre-Deux-Mers in particular. The barricade here becomes an element of the exhibition, supporting the development of the story.

The political turn and the return to order that it embodies constitutes the fourth phase of the exhibition, from the Grenelle agreements (May 27) to the organization of the legislative elections of June 23 and 30, 1968, including the numerous negotiations for resumption of work, sector by sector. The visitor wanders in the middle of vertical and grid structures, erected like so many conquests and disappointed hopes.

The exhibition ends with a richly illustrated epilogue of the struggles and fights carried out a posteriori of the events, extensions which lie between the desperate drift of a few individuals and the hope of an eternal recommencement.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Curator: The Departmental Archives of the Gironde
Scenography & graphic identity: Countach Studio

Project management & scenography production: Zébra3
Client: Gironde Departmental Council

Delivery November 2018