Tournons le dos ! / Turn our back ! [April 22, 2012 – April 23, 2017] 4 Favorite 

In France, abstention, vote of protest, lassitude or violent reactions rise from all over the crisis of our "representative democracy ».

What about thinking the other way round ? What if we reappropriate the iconography of the election?

With Turn our back ! [April 22, 2012 – April 23, 2017] action-art, every citizen is invited to express his political disarray through a universal yet unifying image: turn their backs on a white background, as an electoral counter-poster.

An artistic gesture to display loudly but without violence nor political label our disapproval of the ruling class. Let us turn our backs on the electoral masquerade and demand from now on an overhaul of our democratic institutions!

The collective named after French presidential elections voting day 23avril2017, was created to pursue the precedent action, 22avril2012. In 2012, the electoral billboards across 11 French cities were covered with more than 1000 posters in a fortnight. The 2012 actions were filed, and shared through the web and the press.

In 2017, we focused on citizens’ participation into the action. Anyone could have his pic taken on a white background, and have it posted on our website so to create his own counter-electoral poster. To make it easier to people to get involved, we proceeded to on-street shootings, on local marketplaces, in pubs, both downtown and suburban areas. More than 700 people had their poster created and uploaded on our website.

A second stage of the operation consisted in symbolic actions in public areas through Paris. First on the Place de la République. Then in front of the Assemblée Nationale. Finally, in front of the 3rd arrondissement town hall, as an off program to the nearby Urban Art Fair Paris, we set an on the street exhibition of our street action.

The collective’s action is based on the design of posters, web-sites, documentary videos, animation short films, documentary still pictures, street furniture and on creating a welcoming space, a freedom of speech area, where people could share their views on the functioning of our society.

We call for a radical reform of our democratic institutions, starting with the recognition of the blank vote; the establishment of single-term mandate, with compulsory respect of the electoral program; the enactment of drawing lots elections. With this view, we call people to hijack the electoral billboards so to create a national, collective exhibition able to exert a sufficient pressure on our politicians.

Turn our back ! « gives the floor » to the anonymous and the invisible that feel no more represented by the actual political offer. It proposes a universal expression (turning your back on a white background) in order to federate in a pacifical way the political protest. An individual action that inserts itself into a collective exhibition (the electoral billboard throughout France) so to testify of the democratic crisis striking the individuals as well as the society.

Let’s get the public space back to freely express ourselves !

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PORTFOLIO "Turn our back !" (with EXTERNAL LINKS)
http://linotonelotto.net/ftp/Portfolio_Turn-our-back_144dpi.pdf

PRESSBOOK "Turn our back !" : (with EXTERNAL LINKS)
http://linotonelotto.net/ftp/PRESSBOOK_Turn_our_back_HD.pdf

WEBSITE of the "22avril2012" action :
http://22avril-2012.net

VIDEO of the "22avril2012" action :
https://www.youtube.com/user/22avril2012/playlists

PHOTOS of the "22avril2012" action :
http://23avril2017.net/galerie_2012.php

WEBSITE of the "23avril2017" action :
http://23avril2017.net

ELECTORAL COUNTER POSTERS GALLERY 2017
http://23avril2017.net/galerie.php

FACEBOOK of the "23avril2017" action :
https://www.facebook.com/23avril2017/

ACTION "23avril2017" ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO (motion design) :
https://www.facebook.com/23avril2017/videos/327322934330753/

ACTION "23avril2017" ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO :
https://www.facebook.com/23avril2017/videos/361107317618981/

ACTION "23avril2017" in front of the National Assembly in Paris :
https://www.facebook.com/pg/23avril2017/photos/?tab=album&album_id=33510...