The commission

In the Cité 9 mining neighbourhood, a commissioning group decided to take action as regards their quarter which is next to the Louvre-Lens museum.

These residents were determined to play a transformative role in their neighbourhood. They no longer wanted visitors to the museum just to drive through Cité 9, but to stop for a few moments and take in the local scene.

The artwork

The project has two parts, encompassing past history and present time in the same area. A direct link or a nod to the Galerie du Temps (Gallery of Time) in the Louvre-Lens museum, the permanent exhibition space that is a journey through time.

The first part of the project refers to the past and the former territory. In a video shot by the artists, local residents draw on the ground in front of the museum, the trace of mining galleries buried 350m to 700m beneath their feet and now revealed. Broadcast on a screen inside the Louvre-Lens entrance, the video invites visitors to venture beyond the museum grounds. As they wander through the area, visitors come across a 'pull-tab' machine typical of local funfairs. After exchanging a two-euro coin for a token from local shopkeepers, the 'tirette' dispenser offers a small, handmade miniature miners’ house.
Initially developed within Cité 9 neighbourhood, the commission grew to encompass the whole city, involving many local residents.

The artists

Bertille Bak has been working for a number of years on the subject of the collective, whether united by a shared territory, situation or traditions.
She makes videos that resemble little fables, based on the knowledge, skills and hobbies associated with communities. The aim of each project is to awaken the creative potential of each individual and to find new forms of expression, new ways of telling their story and describing their situation.

Charles-Henry Fertin sees his sculptural practice primarily as a way of intervening in situ, using minimalist volumes that are as streamlined as they are massive, often set in motion by concealed motorisation. His projects bring together antithetical and ambiguous notions - imperceptible sound, motionless movement, stable imbalance.

Their shared artistic practice often takes the form of electromechanical installations, with the space and time of the exhibition at their core. The exhibition walls are incised, stamped, dug into, probed or modified to reveal new, unsuspected spaces and reconfigure the venue. “Robe”, their first machine, was already linked to the mining heritage.