FR, b.1987 and 1985
Brass. Series of 17
Courtesy of the artists Goiffon & Beauté
The French duo Juliette Goiffon & Charles Beauté use humour to zoom in on our working lives and the structures created in organisations to define the interpersonal collaboration. One aspect being looked at critically is the complex organigrams used to create an overview of a company’s line of command and hierarchy. The many wall-hung brass elements in the installation Management Visuel offer a visual play with these specific structures. A confusion of several odd face masks, possibly recalling ghosts, hang next to a series of more or less obscure organigrams. Diagrams we might recall from our working lives, here incorporated into a context stressing how far removed from reality they may seem. How important are they to each individual? Where do they start, where do they finish, and what is the right way round the organisation?
What do the complex organigrams really mean? Who needs them and what is their everyday significance for individual people? What does the system mean in relation to the individual and what is the underlying view of humanity behind the different initiatives made by management teams to ensure a better workflow and operational sequences in the organisations?
Engraved foam
Courtesy of the artists Goiffon & Beauté
With their work Working Mats, the artist duo Juliette Goiffon & Charles Beauté bring our pursuit of performance and self-optimisation to a head. We can constantly improve ourselves.
At first sight, the work resembles two ordinary yoga mats laid out on the floor. However, the idea is not to use the mats, instead they present a mental journey exploring the patterns and symbols adorning the yoga mats as kinds of unsolvable riddles. One mat is entitled Start-up date and shows a series of physical exercises used to keep the body trim. The other is entitled Start workflow and shows a labyrinthine mind map of work processes and decisions between outcomes of yes and no.
The two alternative yoga mats instil neither a sense of flow nor mindfulness. On the contrary, they emphasise how even training is associated with self-optimisation and performance culture, perceiving man as a machine to be constantly improved.
For many years, the artist duo Juliette Goiffon & Charles Beauté have grappled with themes like company strategy and management techniques. Their work addresses what happens when modern management meets human beings who are expected to thrive in this system. Their mode of expression applies mysticism and mechanical frostiness in equal measures.
We associate yoga mats with a life in balance and inner peace. Although yoga has existed for millennia, yoga has, in recent years, played a significant role in the present wave of mindfulness. This wave is a manifest expression of an alternative lifestyle but is also used by progressive enterprises which, in the struggle to attract the right staff, offer both yoga and other benefits to keep their employees happy but also to optimise their bottom line profitability.
Our working week has undergone development over the past decades until the present where our working week is fairly short. This has increased our focus on leisure, sport, and family life: living the perfect life’. To many, meditation, wellness, training, and yoga are now part and parcel of living an active (working) life. Many spend time on self-development and training, both physically and mentally, to be able to cope with the challenges of working life. The reason for holidays and days off work is not simply to relax, but also to go to work readily tuned to perform optimally.