BĂŠliers action against the Jura-politics of the Bernese government in 1998: A donkey decorated with the portrait of member of the cantonal parliament Mario Annoni was lowered into the bear pit in Bern. The bears were not in the pit at the time.
Je Ne Sais Quoi 2007 Intervention and Installation in 10 parts With: Haus am Gern, Biel/Bienne; René Zäch, Biel/Bienne; Tilo Steireif, Lausanne; Łukasz Skąpski, Krakau (PL); Eugène Cattin, Les Bois; Claude Gigon, Delsberg; Silvain Froidevaux, Geneva Guests: Michel Hauser, Ernst Häusermann, La Roue de Bollement, Les Béliers Espace d’Art Contemporain (les halles) Porrentruy (JU) Jura is the youngest canton of Switzerland. It was created as a result of cultural and political tensions. The foundation of the canton in 1979 was preceded by turmoil during the 1960s and 70s that bor dered on civil war. The youth organisation “Béliers” carried out bomb attacks that destroyed, among others, the Monument to the Soldiers of the First World War in Les Rangiers. Je ne sais quoi 1 at the Space for Contemporary Art (les halles) 2 in Porrentruy was Haus am Gern’s attempt to react to the (hi)stories and events (particularly the anarchist and separatist movements) in the Canton of Jura by employing aesthetic and scientific methods. The aim was to examine the general validity of these histories, par ticularly in relation to other regions and countries with separatist tendencies. Je ne sais quoi was conceived as an interdisciplinary “pastiche” of 10 images associatively connecting different themes and stories. Important elements in the run up to the exhibition were to freely roam in the field and spread rumors, as well as the voluntary and involuntary inclusion of people and groups in the exhibition’s circle of influence. The exhibition played with the phrase “je ne sais quoi” on several levels: on the one hand it was an attempt to transport a diversity, a speechless “excess”, of information and stories, through the exhi bited work – involving amongst other things the cheeky appropria tion of political campaigns, events and personalities. In a near exemplary way, Je ne sais quoi demonstrates the trajectory of the everyday object turning into a cult(ural) icon, from the de corative mill wheel to the monument for a comrade fallen in battle, as well as a government’s struggle to deal with this phenomenon. With Je ne sais quoi, Haus am Gern opened up a space for reflec tion, enabling new points of view on art and society to emerge in dependently of political and aesthetic rules and prejudices. 1 The title of the exhibition, “Je ne sais quoi” (eng.“I don’t know what” in the sense of “a certain indeterminate something”) refers to a concept from aesthetics that denotes the impossibility of conclusively and conceptually grasping an aesthetic object. Since antiquity it has been among the most im portant categorical descriptions of the beautiful, besides the group of con cepts relating to harmony and coherence. The beautiful escapes all definitive conceptual categorisation and cannot be satisfactorily described using lan guage.
The art space of the Canton of Jura is located in the same building as the Department of Culture. 2
Elements of the work: La roue de Bollement Cog wheel, Ø 304 cm; ownership disputed — Haus am Gern Je ne sais quoi Fleece blanket made in China; 170 cm x 130 cm, 100 % polyester, edition of 100 — René Zäch Water Wheel / stable-labile Wall-mounted object, 4 spirit levels, wood, acrylic lacquer; 106 cm x 106 cm x 6 cm — Haus am Gern La Preuve (The Proof) Ilfochrome on aluminium, framed, 80 cm x 260 cm, triptychon — Tilo Steireif Jamais bon guet ne fait de bruit (A Good Watchman Never Makes no Noise) Ceramic tiles, 20 cm x 20 cm, 36 motifs — Łukasz Skąpski Machines/Maszyny, 2006 C-Print on Dibond; 15 cm x 15 cm — Haus am Gern Shall this really last for ever? Pair of skid chains. 14.9/913–26, metal letters — Eugène Cattin (1866 –1947) Moulin de la Mort, Photograph, undated, early 20th century; First publication on the back of the exhibition poster, courtesy Archives de la République et Canton du Jura — Claude Gigon Moulin de la Mort (Doubs) DVD-PAL Mono; 04 :11:14; Loop — Sylvain Froidevaux Discours patriotique and Quadrature du cercle / two texts on the front of the exhibition poster; for the original texts see www. hausamgern.ch/jenesaisquoi
Frame One shows an object concealed by soft blankets. It is the Roue de Bollement, the wooden water wheel from the medieval sawmill of Bollement near Saint-Brais in the Jura. In 1972 the Bernese government mindlessly ordered the destruction of the mill, and the Swiss army proceeded to burn it down.
Prior to this event, two Bernese soldiers, Ernst Häusermann from Langenthal BE, and Fritz Lanz from Schmiedrued AG, had appropriated the wheel, which was eventually sold to the Cantonal Bank of Bern to adorn its bank building in Lengnau BE.
Painting on the Facade of the branch of the Cantonal Bank of Bern in Lengnau BE
12th October 1996: The Béliers take the “Roue de Bollement” back Photo: Stéphane Gerber
Frame Two is a 100 x enlargement of one of the soft blankets gently concealing the Roue de Bollement from the onlookers’ eyes. The pattern (printed onto the blanket by diligent Chinese) shows a curious painting made by 9th graders from Lengnau: nine
panels whose dimensions equal the space on the wall of the bank building in Lengnau BE, which was left empty on 12th October 1996, when a horde of Béliers took the wheel down in broad daylight and carted it back to a sanctuary in its homeland.
Frame Three shows a “water wheel” – a piece called “stabil-labil” (stable-instable) by René Zäch, an artist from Biel/Bienne. His yellow square “wheel” consisting of four water levels is inspired by the humorous gift from the Béliers who, on 1st April 1997, presented a square water wheel to the Lengnau BE branch of the Cantonal Bank of Bern.
1st April 1997: The Béliers with the “Squaring of the Circle” in front of the branch of the Cantonal Bank of Bern in Lengnau. Photo: Keystone
Frame Four is a triptych depicting two men standing in the Hôtel-Restaurant du Soleil in Saint-Brais in front of a golden tapestry with hunting motifs. The men are connected by the Roue de Bollement: Michel Hauser (l) is head of the Department of Culture of the Republic and Canton of Jura; Ernst Häusermann (r), from Langenthal, owns a landscaping business; the restaurateurs’ son is missing from the central image. This very young man, a fervent Bélier, travelled to Bern with a bomb in his luggage. It exploded early that day in Bern’s Kramgasse. He has remained the only martyr to the separatist cause and the Béliers wanted to dedicate a monument to him – the Roue de Bollement set on a concrete plinth.
Frame Five depicts a frieze of wall tiles containing 36 drawings by Lausanne artist Tilo Steireif: he researched the politically motivated events in the Jura, mixed them up and burnt them into these ceramic tiles.
Frame Six shows a series of ingenious tractors ingeniously hand-assembled by poor farmers – for example in the Beskid mountains in Poland Polish artist Šukasz Skąpski discovered them and transformed them into works of art.
Frame Seven shows tractor snow chains of the unusual size of 14.9/913–26 and bearing metal letters. They would print the words of German typographer and anarchist, August Reinsdorf, “Soll dies wirklich ewig dauern? / Is this to last eternally?”, into snow. Reinsdorf was executed in 1885 following his abortive attempt to assassinate the German Kaiser; he is said to have coined the expression “propaganda of the deed” – but to explore this further would go too far.
Frame Eight is a print from the reverse of the exhibition poster for Je ne sais quoi. It shows a photograph taken in the first half of the 20th cenutry by postman / photographer Eugène Cattin (1866 –1947) from Les Bois. It depicts a set painter as he paints the Moulin de la Mort, the “mill of death”, near Les Bois onto a huge canvas. Frame Nine shows Claude Gigon, an artist from Delémont, who tirelessly swims against the current of the Doubs river, half-way in Switzerland and half-way in France, in the exact spot where the Moulin de la Mort once stood. Meanwhile, in the background, wind turbines thrum above the hilltops of the Jura mountain range.
“Le Fritz”, the Pig and the Damassine A patriotic speech Fellow Countrywomen, Countrymen It is no secret that our neighbours, the Bernese, have their “Holy Trinity”, represented by three picturesque and immovable characters – the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau (in English: the Ogre, the Monk and the Maiden). The three of them unite the characteristics of the Bernese, who are said to be gruff, deliberate and steadfast. The ogre (a cousin of the bear) stands for brute force; gobbling vast quantities, he also represents generosity, at least in a certain sense. Being placed between the other two, the monk is the mediator; he stands for serenity and wisdom; he is a solitary man who only acts after careful consideration. But there is no doubt that he also enjoys watching from afar and never taking sides. The virgin is innocence, freshness and beauty personified – so many virtues in one character must lead to her becoming narcissist and stubborn. When they achieved their independence, did the Jurassian people find similar characters in their heritage that were capable of representing the force of their culture, the ambivalences of their identity and the contradictions of their history? We shall reply in the affirmative and believe that we have discovered them under the aspect of another trilogy that shall henceforth be considered mythical. They are “Le Fritz”,1 the Pig and the Damassine.2 When you consider it well, do not these three have the required characteristics that encompass the symbolisms of an identity that is at once cultural, authentic and patriotic? Of course they are rustic and grumbly, but are they not also charged with feeling, magic and mystery? And of course we could have brought to attention other great symbolic figures that are linked to Jurassian history: – the Cross? the one of Saint Germain, a monk of Teutonic origins, as his name indicates; the first abbot of Jura, or see of the bishops of Basel, who for seven centuries ruled the region from their lofty fortress … – a Bible? the one over a thousand years old from the abbey of Moutier-Grandval which canons flustered by the Revolution had left behind in an attic in Delémont and that was later sold by an astute antiquarian from Basel to the English court, where it was claimed to be
Charlemagne’s bible, which is why it now resides at the British Museum … – an incisor? that of an adolescent Neanderthal (35ʼ000 to 50ʼ000 years old) discovered in a cave near Saint-Brais – the oldest human remains ever found in Switzerland (Germanic colonisation seems to go back a long way) … – the bone fragments of Saint Fromont? the “sanspapiers” saint of Bonfol, who only really felt at home among wild animals and whose relics were spirited away to Basel on behalf of science along the road taken in the inverse sense but just as clandestinely as the city’s chemical waste … – a Bélier 3 or ram? totemic animal of a ferocious nature, it lowers its head to attack anything hairy that grunts, more generally any two-legged animal that profanes the sacred virtues of our independence … – a mill wheel? the notorious Bollement Wheel, which keeps on turning, turning, secretly passing from one hand to the other, from the lake of Bienne to the gates of France, only to reappear under the conceptual blankets of a gallery for contemporary art … – a dinosaur’s footprint? left as the creature calmly walked on the beach at Chevenez-Courtedoux 152 mil lion years ago, when the Ajoe region was already a jetsetter’s paradise and some were already thinking of establishing a theme park to attract mass tourism … So? After this brief stock-taking (and please forgive me for having overlooked certain flowers of Jurassian heritage, such as Abraham Gagnebin’s magnifying glass, or the cross of La Croix, the bourne of La Haute-Borne, or the bear of Saint-Ursanne …), what better than the illustrious Sentinelle des Rangiers, popularly nicknamed “Le Fritz”, could focus Jurassians’ frustrations, resentments, not to say rage, as regards anything that reminds them of military and Germanic culture? A sentinel that, while he was still upright, symbolised the glorious neutrality of the Swiss at a time when all around them the world was on fire and drowning in blood; a “Fritz” who was to become the Bogeyman in the eyes of the Children of the Fatherland, but – once shatte red into a thousand smithereens – reminded us of our fratricidal disputes, the explosion of our country and the betrayal of our dearest ideals. Henceforth, who better than the Pig can once again assemble the Jurassians and satisfy them until they burst? This Pig, presented as a sacrificial victim to Jurassian gastronomy that has managed to travesty – to no-one’s disquietude – the very Catholic feast day of Saint-Martin into a raucous national “St. Martin’s Day”, eclipsing in these decadent times the figure of the generous monk of Hungarian origins, who became Bishop of Tours and offered half his cloak to a beggar who – no-one will ever know precisely – may have been dying of cold or of
Le Fritz, le Cochon et la Damassine. Chères et Chers Compatriotes, Ce n’est un secret pour personne : nos voisins les Bernois ont leur « sainte trilogie », représentée par trois personnages pittoresques et inamovibles : l’Eiger, le Mönch et la Jungfrau (* en français : l’Ogre, le Moine et la Jeune fille). A eux trois, ils rassemblent les caractères de ce peuple réputé bourru, lent et têtu. L’ogre (un cousin de l’ours), c’est la force brute, la dévoration et la gourmandise, donc aussi, d’une certaine façon, la générosité. Le moine, c’est le médiateur, celui qui est placé entre les deux autres. Il représente la sérénité et la sagesse ; c’est l’homme du retrait qui n’agit qu’après mûre réflexion, mais sans doute se complaît-il également à regarder les choses de loin et à ne jamais prendre parti. La Jeune fille, c’est l’innocence, la fraîcheur et la beauté, autant de vertus réunies au sein d’une personnalité forcément narcissique et entêtée. En conquérant leur indépendance, les Jurassiens ont-ils trouvé des figures équivalentes dans leur patrimoine, à même de traduire à la fois la force de leur culture, les ambivalences de leur identité et les contradictions de leur histoire ? Nous répondons « oui » et pensons les avoir découvert sous l’aspect d’une autre trilogie désormais mythique : le Fritz, le Cochon et la Damassine. Ces trois-là, à bien y réfléchir, n’ont-ils pas les caractéristiques requises pour asseoir les bases symboliques d’une identité culturelle, authentique et patriotique, forcément rustique et bougonne, mais chargée d’affects, de magie et de mystères ? Bien sûr, nous aurions pu porter notre attention sur d’autres grandes figures symboliques, liées à l’histoire jurassienne : la Crosse ? celle de Saint Germain, moine d’origine teuton comme l’indique son nom, devenu premier abbé du Jura, ou celle des Evêques de Bâle qui régnèrent sur la région du haut de leur donjon durant plus de cinq siècles… une Bible ? celle de l’abbaye de Moutier-Grandval, plus que millénaire, mais stupidement oubliée à la Révolution par des chanoines étourdis dans un galetas delémontain, vendue ensuite par un rusé antiquaire bâlois à la cour d’Angleterre, qui la fit passer pour la bible de Charlemagne, ce qui lui valut d’être déposée depuis lors au British Museum… une incisive ? celle d’un adolescent néanderthalien vieux de 35'000 à 50'000 ans, découverte dans une grotte de St-Brais, et qui reste le plus vieux vestige humain de Suisse (comme quoi la colonisation germanique a commencé très tôt)… les ossements de Saint Fromont ? « saint sans papier » de Bonfol, qui ne se sentait vraiment à l’aise qu’en compagnie des animaux sauvages, dont les reliques furent clandestinement déportées à Bâle, soi-disant pour les besoins de la science, dans un trajet inverse, et tout aussi clandestin à
celui pris par les déchets de l’industrie chimique de la même ville… un bélier ? animal totémique à caractère pugnace fonçant tête baissée dans tout ce qui grogne et qui est recouvert de poils, plus généralement tout animal marchant sur deux pattes en profanant les vertus sacrées de notre indépendance… une roue de moulin ? cette fameuse roue de Bollement, qui n’en finit pas de tourner, tourner, passant en secret d’une main à l’autre, du lac de Bienne aux portes de la France, pour réapparaître sous les couvertures conceptuelles d’une galerie d’art contemporain… la vouivre ? sorte de serpent cosmique qui hante nos rivières souterraines et qui, grâce au partage des eaux, peut boire un verre en mer du Nord et en même temps pisser dans la Méditerranée… la patte d’un dinosaure ? se rendant tranquillement à la plage de Chevenez- Courtedoux, voici 152 millions d’années, dont certains imaginaient déjà en faire un parc d’attractions pour touristes « de masse ». Alors ? Après ce bref état des lieux (pardonnezmoi d’avoir omis quelques fleurons du patrimoine jurassien, comme la loupe d’Abraham Gagnebin, la croix de La Croix, la borne de La Haute-Borne, l’Ours de Saint-Ursanne…), qui mieux que l’illustre Sentinelle des Rangiers, surnommée « Fritz », peut prétendre concentrer sur elle les frustrations, les ressentiments, pour ne pas dire la « rage » des Jurassiens à l’égard de tout ce qui leur rappelle la culture militaire et impérialiste ?
leur gastronomie (pour ne pas dire cochonnaille), leur franche camaraderie et leurs non moins réputés excès de boisson (qu’ils partagent dit-on avec les Irlandais, les Québécois, les Wallons, les Valdotins, etc., sans oublier les Valaisans bien sûr) ? Le Jura est riche d’un patrimoine – pas seulement génétique - hérité d’ancêtres rauraques qui ne cessaient de crier « ils sont fous ces Romains !». Hé oui ! Chères et Chers Compatriotes, cette histoire n’est pas nouvelle et s’est déjà passée il y a bien longtemps, ici ou en d’autres lieux. Des peuples, à tous les coins de la planète, ont trébuché contre le socle de l’ignorance et de la cupidité ; d’autres en sont encore à rechercher les vestiges, cailloux, ossements ou reliques ayant appartenu à quelque ancêtre vivant autrefois dans la grotte d’à côté. Des organes génitaux de la Vénus Hottentot aux cheveux volés de la momie de Ramsès II, du temple de Borobudur aux Bouddhas de Bâmiyân, l’histoire se répète. Tout fout le camp, alors mettons à l’abri nos archives, nos tirelires, nos totems et nos bijoux de famille. La vie ne serait-elle faite que de rêves, l’humain prendra toujours le soin de cacher sous son matelas quelque objet symbolique pour se prémunir du temps qui passe. (Discours patriotique)
Une Sentinelle qui symbolisait, du temps où il tenait encore debout, la glorieuse neutralité des Suisses, alors que le monde tout autour d’eux était à feu et à sang ; un Fritz qui devait plus tard faire figure de croque-mitaine aux yeux des enfants de la patrie, mais qui, une fois couché en mille morceaux, nous rappela nos disputes fratricides, l’éclatement du pays et l’abandon de nos chers idéaux. Dès lors, qui mieux que le Cochon peut à nouveau rassembler les Jurassiennes et les Jurassiens et les satisfaire jusqu’à plus faim ? Ce Cochon présenté en victime sacrificielle de la gastronomie qui sera parvenu à travestir, sans que nul ne s’en inquiète, la très catholique Saint-Martin en fête nationale et paillarde, éclipsant en ces temps de décadence la figure de ce généreux moine d’origine hongroise, devenu évêque de Tours, qui offrit la moitié de son manteau à un mendiant, dont on ne saura jamais s’il était en train de mourir de froid ou de faim (dans ce deuxième cas de figure peut-être aurait-il eu meilleur temps de lui donner la moitié de son cheval (autre grande figure symbolique du Jura qui va de pair avec le sapin). Une « Saint-Martin » où la princesse Damassine trône aux côtés du roi Boudin, sans jamais se compromettre, cela va sans dire, dans les polémiques amères et intéressées, que l’on mena en son nom au sujet de la très convoitée « appellation contrôlée ». La Damassine, presque aussi illustre que sa grande sœur la « Jungfrau », c’est la jeune fille pure et innocente qui réveille les désirs des vieillards, fait saliver les hommes mûrs et fait perdre la raison aux plus jeunes. Chères et Chers Compatriotes, dites-nous par quelles valeurs et par quelles vertus les Jurassiens sont-ils parvenus à se faire connaître hors de leurs frontières si ce n’est par leur antimilitarisme (bien souvent tributaire d’un anti-germanisme primaire),
JE nE SAIS quoI
LA QUADRATURE DU CERCLE Réflexion anthropologique sur la notion de patrimoine Le sociologue Jean Baudrillard a écrit que les objets qui nous entourent, les objets du quotidien, les objets fonctionnels et technologiques ou encore les objets anciens forment un système de signes relevant d’un ordre symbolique lui-même répondant d’une vision du monde. Dans l’ordre de la société moderne, le monde n’est plus donné - par Dieu ou par la tradition - mais produit et maîtrisé par les hommes et les institutions. Dès lors chaque chose, chaque objet peut être manipulé, inventorié et contrôlé. Il faut que tout communique, que tout soit fonctionnel et transparent, comme dans un vaste cercle où chaque point serait relié à tous les autres par une infinité de rayons. Ainsi, les hommes, dans la mesure où ils sont eux aussi, depuis la révolution industrielle, entraînés dans un processus de réification-marchandisation, font désormais partie du cercle, en tant qu’objets d’échange et capital main-d’oeuvre. Mais qu’est-ce au fond qu’un « objet » ? La définition étymologique qu’en donne habituellement le dictionnaire, « ce qui est posé devant, offert à la vue », nous semble en l’occurrence peu satisfaisante. « Chose », « entité », opposé philosophiquement à la notion de sujet, l’objet, comme le souligne Baudrillard, a deux fonctions, : « l’une qui est d’être pratiquée, l’autre qui est d’être possédée. ». L’objet subit évidemment des usages multiples et des changements de fonction, de valeur et de sens, suivant les époques. De même, les objets produisent des effets chez ceux qui les voient ou ceux qui les possèdent. Depuis toujours, l’humain tend à attribuer aux objets et aux choses inanimés un pouvoir et un caractère vivant. Dans la pensée animiste, les animaux, les plantes, les représentations matérielles peuvent être investis par des âmes, habités par des puissances ou des esprits. L’objet investi d’un pouvoir sacré se voit conférer une autonomie d’action et de réaction, qui l’extrait du monde profane, mais pour mieux le charger de sens et d’ambiguité. Car c’est bien la toute-puissance des idées qui confère à l’objet sa valeur et sa force permettant ainsi la substitution de la partie au tout, processus oeuvrant non seulement dans la magie et l’animisme, mais également à la base de tout langage symbolique et idéologique. L’époque actuelle, loin de là, n’échappe pas à ce phénomène. De même que le drapeau, emblème censé représenter la nation, peut être hissé au sommet d’un mat ou d’une montagne comme signe d’appartenance et de fierté, le geste de l’arracher ou d’y bouter le feu passe pour un acte de provocation et de subversion. En tant qu’élément extrait d’une totalité qu’il a pour fonction de représenter, l’objet du patrimoine n’est-il pas investi lui aussi d’un pouvoir magique, celui de restituer la mémoire des sociétés disparues qui l’ont produit ? Mais comment un « simple » objet, usuel et banal, comme une boîte à biscuits ou un fer à repasser, peut-il accéder au statut de patrimoine ? Toujours et partout, le patrimoine culturel s’est d’abord formé autour d’un noyau composé de « sémiophores », en particulier des œuvres d’art ou des reliques, qui étaient le plus souvent ellesmêmes des objets de culte. Ce sont ces oeuvres qui sont les premières à entrer dans les trésors, les collections particulières, puis dans les musées. Au fil du temps, les collections se sont élargies
à toutes sortes de choses appartenant aussi bien à l’univers de la nature (minéral, animal, végétal) que de la culture (mobilier, outils, vêtements, ornements, etc., témoins d’une époque, d’un peuple, d’un mode de vie). Mais pour entrer dans le patrimoine culturel, l’objet usuel, profane, va devoir passer par le stade de déchet. Au départ, l’objet fonctionne dans le circuit productif, utilitaire. C’est l’outil, la machine, la roue du char ou du moulin. L’objet est ainsi marqué par l’usure physique, morale ou économique, jusqu’au point où il devient obsolète, démodé. Il est alors remplacé, détruit, jeté ou abandonné. Ayant cessé d’être utile, il est menacé de disparaître. Rare, il redevient précieux. Sa nouvelle fonction est une fonction signifiante. Symbole d’une époque révolue, la valeur esthétique et patrimoniale de l’objet ancien s’appuie désormais sur un double mythe : la nostalgie des origines et l’obsession d’authenticité. L’objet de patrimoine apparaît donc comme le vestige d’un temps passé, définitivement perdu, mais bien souvent idéalisé, magnifié. Abstrait de son époque et de son usage, il va prendre un statut strictement subjectif. C’est alors que le simple objet devient « sémiophore », c’est-à-dire un objet porteur de « caractères visibles susceptibles de recevoir des significations », ayant pouvoir d’évocation sur notre esprit. Si l’objet ancien nous semble beau et possède soudainement de la valeur à nos yeux c’est qu’il a l’immense vertu de venir d’une vie antérieure et d’avoir survécu à la mort et à la destruction. Les objets d’autrefois, intégrés au patrimoine, devront par conséquent être soumis à une attention et une protection sans relâche contre la corrosion, la dégradation, le vol et contre toutes les attaques de l’environnement humain et naturel. L’apparition du patrimoine culturel s’accompagne inévitablement de la création d’institutions spécialisées chargées d’assurer cette protection : services de restauration des œuvres d’art, inspection des monuments historiques, surveillance des douanes et de la police contre le trafic illicite, etc. De nos jours, avec la durée de vie de plus en plus courte des objets usuels, rapidement remplacés par d’autres plus modernes ou plus performants, pratiquement tout est devenu « muséalisable » et donc susceptible d’entrer dans le patrimoine. De là naît cette impression que les objets du patrimoine sont hétéroclites et le deviennent de plus en plus. Cependant, le fait d’être distingués des objets ordinaires et actuels leur confère une unité et une authenticité d’autant plus grande qu’ils viennent d’un passé qui nous échappe, tout en nous donnant l’illusion que nous avons su en garder quelque chose d’essentiel.
de nouvelles formes d’esthétisme, tenant compte d’une gestion de l’excès, face aux assauts de la technologie, de la consommation et de la communication médiatique. Une sorte de quadrature du cercle où s’insèrent les formes les plus diverses, qu’on suppose incompatibles, mais qui sont cependant condamnées à se côtoyer. Par sa puissance d’amalgame, le patrimoine aurait donc quelque chose de résolument « postmoderne », à l’image des centres historiques des villes où se côtoient par couches successives les styles architecturaux du passé et du présent. Par sa capacité à mêler les objets, les époques, les catégories et les genres, le patrimoine se fait reflet du présent et peut-être du futur, bien plus que du passé. En dernière instance, le patrimoine, c’est nous, sujets déchets bien vite périmés dans un monde en constante transformation. L’accélération du temps, l’omniprésence de la technologie et la métamorphose des espaces géographiques, sociaux et économiques forment pourtant l’univers dans lequel nous devons recomposer notre identité pour continuer à exister. Sylvain Froidevaux, Anthropologue, docteur ès sciences sociales Porrentruy, septembre 2007
Notes Jean Baudrillard 1968, Le système des objets, Paris : Gallimard. Jean Baudrillard, op. cit. p. 104. Sigmund Freud 2001 (1923), Totem et Tabou, Paris : Editions Payot. Krzysztof Pomian 1990, « Musée et patrimoine », in H.-P. Jeudy (dir.), Patrimoines en folie, Paris : Editions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, p. 195. Jean Baudrillard, op. cit. p. 92-93. Krzysztof Pomian op. cit. p.179. Marc Guillaume 1990, « Invention et stratégies du patrimoine, in H.-P. Jeudy, op.cit. p. 17.
Finalement, dans la société actuelle, le patrimoine pourrait bien fonctionner comme « appareil idéologique de la mémoire ». Il traduit d’une certaine manière le refus contemporain d’assumer la destruction de notre environnement naturel, social et culturel, celle-ci nous apparaissant irrémédiable en regard des formidables avancées technologiques de notre temps, mais difficilement supportable sans la médiation d’instances de gestion et de conservation spécialisée et placées sous le contrôle des pouvoirs publics. C’est alors que le patrimoine, comme lieu où se reconstitue en un ensemble hétéroclite les restes d’idéologies, les systèmes de valeurs et de référence des temps passés, peut apparaître paradoxalement comme l’avant-garde de la modernité, où doivent s’inventer de nouveaux modes de vie et
Du 23 septembre au 11 novembre 2007 Vernissage le 22 septembre à 18h (Jus de Bélier offert par les artistes) Finissage le 11 novembre de 14h-17h
HAuS AM GERn Rudolf Steiner & Barbara Meyer Cesta avec : Tilo Steireif, Sylvain Froidevaux,
Claude Gigon, Łukosz Sko˛pski, René Zäch, Eugène Cattin Invités : Michel Hauser, Ernst Häusermann et la roue de Bollement
P.P.
2874 Saint-Brais
Heures d’ouverture : jeudi de 17h00 à 19h00 samedi de 10h00 à 12h00 et de 14h00 à 17h00 dimanche de 14h00 à 18h00 ou sur rendez-vous au 032 420 84 02 leshalles@vtxnet.ch www.eac-leshalles.ch
L’EAC (les halles) bénéficie du soutien de : Banque Cantonale du Jura, Bureau technique Brunner, Délégation jurassienne à la loterie romande, Espace Le Pays SA, Centre d’impression Le Pays, Municipalité de Porrentruy, Télémontagne, Videocompany, MAGIKS informatique Delémont. RéPuBLIquE ET CAnTon Du JuRA Office federal de la culture. L’exposition bénéficie du soutien de : Pro Helvetia, Canton de Berne, Ville de Berne, Canton de Vaud, Ville de Bienne, Musée jurassien d’art et d’histoire Delémont, videocompany Zofingen, M&M Hire AG Schönenwerd, CERA IT Steinhagen D Merci à la famille Bader ainsi q'à l'Hôtel-Restaurant du Soleil, St.Brais
espace d’art contemporain r u e p i e r re - p é q u i g n a t 9 2 9 0 0 p o r re n t r u y
Frame Ten depicts two texts written by Dr. Sylvain Froidevaux. He lives in Geneva and is an anthropologist whose family come from Noirmont, and who was raised in Boncourt: one text is a patriotic speech; the other an essay on waste as a cultural artefact. Both of them can be found on the exhibition poster to Je ne sais quoi.
( les ha l le s )
hunger (in which latter case St. Martin might have been better advised to give him half his horse, another great symbolic figure in the Jura in tandem with the pine tree). A “Saint-Martin” where Damassine, the Damascene princess, is enthroned next to King Black-Pudding, of course without ever becoming herself involved in the fierce and bitter polemics conducted in her name and in the pursuit of the very desirable appellation contrôlée.4 Almost as illustrious as the Jungfrau, her big sister, the Damassine is the pure, innocent maiden who awakens desire in dirty old farts, makes mature men salivate, and young turks lose their heads. Fellow Countrywomen, Countrymen: tell us for what values and virtues have the Jurassians managed to become famous beyond their own frontiers unless it is for their anti-militarism (often derived from a primary antiGermanism), for their gastronomy (not to say piggery), for their frank comradeship and their no less notorious drinking excesses (which they share, or so it is said, with the Irish, the Québécois, the Walloons, the Valdotins,5 etc., and of course the Valaisans)? The Jura has a wealth of heritage – not only genetic – inherited from its Rauracian6 ancestors who never tired of shouting, “Ils sont fous, les Romains!”7 Oh yes! Fellow Countrywomen, Countrymen, this story, this history is not new. It all happened a long time ago, here and elsewhere. Peoples everywhere on this planet have kicked against the plinth of ignorance and covetous ness; others are still researching its vestiges, the shards, pebbles, sacred bones and other relics that once belonged to some ancestor who lived in the cave next door. History repeats itself – from the Hottentot Venus’s genitals to the hair stolen off the head of mummified Ramses II; from the temple of Borobudur to the Buddhas of Bâmiyân. Everything goes down the drain – so let’s safeguard our archives, our piggibanks, our totems and our family heirlooms. Even if life only consisted of dreams, we humans would still carefully hide some symbolic object under our mattresses as an amulet against time passing. Sylvain Froidevaux, Anthropologist and Dr.phil. (social sciences) Porrentruy, 22nd September, 2007
1 In 1924, on the tenth anniversary of the mobilisation of the Swiss army to defend Swiss neutrality, a statue of a soldier standing guard was erected on the road to the Les Rangiers pass in the Jura mountains on the border with France. The statue was created by Le Corbusier’s teacher, Charles l’Eplattenier (1874 –1946), who called his work La Sentinelle (The Sentinel). It was soon nicknamed “Le Fritz”, reflecting the name popular among the predominantly German-speaking Swiss troops protecting the border. In 1984 members of the Jurassian separatist organisation, Les Béliers, pulled the statue down, breaking off its head. No sooner was the monument restored than car tyres were burnt at its feet, blackening the statue and a piece brreaking off due to the great heat. In 1989 “Le Fritz” was again pulled down and its head and bayonet stolen. On 24th September, 2004, two disguised members of the Béliers using hammers and chisels smashed the head to pieces outside the city hall of Delémont, while inside the building the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Canton of Jura was being celebrated. 2 The damassine is a small red prune. The famous, fragrant Damassine liqueur has traditionally been distilled in the Jura region of Switzerland, in particular the Ajoie region. While the origins of the damassine are obscure, legend has it that returning Crusaders carried the fruit in their pockets. Its name is derived from that of Damascus, the Syrian capital (French: Damas). 3 The Béliers are a clandestine youth organisation in the Jurassian Separatist Movement. They were particularly militant in the 1960s and 1970s, committing provocative acts. Since the creation of the Canton of Jura in 1979, they have mobilised for a unified Jura including the southern districts that had opted to remain with the Canton of Bern. Their methods used to be radical and their acts, usually targeting particularly symbolic objects, attracted a lot of media attention. 4 Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC), which translates as “controlled designation of origin”, is the French – and Swiss – certification granted to certain geographical indications for agricultural products. 5 The Valdotins live in the Italian Aosta valley; like the Jurassians, Québécois, Walloons and Valaisans, they have been struggling to uphold their autonomous culture and special political status. 6 The Rauracii were a neighbouring tribe to the Helvetians, with settlements in what is now Basel, the Jura and Alsace. Archaeological finds documenting their existence date back to the middle of the 2nd century BC. The Rauracian Republic (1792 – 1793) was created on some of the territory of the princebishopric of Basel. Like other French client republics, its name was inspired by ancient history. 7 “They’re mad, those Romans!” was the Gaul’s frequent exclamation in The Adventures of Asterix.
The Opening night A large, very mixed audience found its way to les halles. Many people were drawn by an opportunity to see Les Béliers and the Roue de Bollement, which had been announced by the local press. Following curator Philippe Queloz’ welcoming address, Sylvain Froidevaux gave his Discours patriotique, after which the Marc Freuléchaux, leader of Les Béliers, announced that they would for the third time apply to the Department of Culture to include the Roue de Bollement in the list of the Canton of Jura’s cultural heritage. His words were followed by an address by Michel Hauser, head of the Cantonal Department of Culture, who invited the assembled audience to buy the blanket to reveal what was underneath. Finally, people toasted each other with a glass of Jus de Béliers, or Ram’s Juice.
The Final event It was held on the St. Martin’s Day weekend when the people of the region of the Jura called Ajoie slaughter their beasts before the onset of winter, and celebrate the event by feasting and drinking. The great St. Martin’s market at Porrentruy, with les halles at its centre draws huge crowds. About 600 people attended the Final event. Mr. Michel Hauser and the Cantonal Minister of Culture, Ms. Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, however, preferred to celebrate St. Martin’s Day with their families and sent their apologies. At 5pm the Béliers – wearing pink pig masks – stormed the exhibition and pulled the blankets off the Roue de Bollement. They revealed a wheel that, to the consternation of all those assembled there, was completely wrapped. Nevertheless, the Béliers carried the wheel through the throngs down the old city of Porrentruy before loading it onto a trailer and driving off.
Why in the (Swiss) Jura a Mill Wheel is More than Just That A historical chronological essay In the twenty-first century an old mill wheel is not the most useful object. One may feature as an ornament in the garden of a nostalgically-inclined person. Another might be exhibited in a village museum as a token of the early industrial age’s CO2-free days. A technology buff may place one by a stream where it turns and turns by force of nature – but uselessly so, and merely for the sake of aestheticism and to recall an idyllic but bygone age. In the Jura, however, a mill wheel can easily be more than just that. One such wheel used to power the flour mill and, latterly, the sawmill of Bollement near the village of Saint-Brais in the Franches Montagnes, or Free Mountains of the Jura range. To some Jurassians, at any rate, the socalled Roue de Bollement is hotly disputed loot, a sacred piece of cultural heritage, a symbol of resistance. In Switzerland’s jigsaw puzzle of federalist autonomy, the Canton of Jura is an angular part that doesn’t fit easily into the picture. Some of its inhabitants perceive the Jura as an area of Special Cultural Interest in which objects such as a mill wheel acquire a new and higher symbolic meaning. At first glance the history of the Bollement Wheel is innocuous enough: in 1972 the obsolete sawmill was the property of the – then Bernese – cantonal government, which called in the Swiss army to have the mill demolished. Two Bernese soldiers liked the wheel, spirited it away and eventually sold it to an architect in Biel/Bienne, a city at the foot of the Jura range. The architect sold the wheel on to the Cantonal Bank of Bern, who in 1973 used it to adorn a wall of their new branch office in the small Bernese town of Lengnau near Biel. Passionate Jurassians have a different take on the history of the Roue de Bollement, which reads like this: In the days when the Jura was still a Bernese colony, the colonila overlords took possession of the sawmill of Bollement and had it destroyed by collaborators in the Swiss occupying army. Two Bernese soldiers, who were part of the commando, stole the mill wheel, this piece of Jurassian heritage, to barter it away to the colonial power’s state bank. In 1996 the Béliers (Rams) – an underground separatist youth organisation who since 1962 have been keeping the dream of a Free Jura alive – saw fit to travel to Lengnau to take down the wheel and carry it back home in triumph. Since then the wheel has been in their careful custody as, regrettably, the official Canton of Jura, which in 1979 split off from the Canton of Bern, has not had the courage to include it in the official list of artefacts that are part of the Jurassian cultural heritage. To keep the memory of the wheel and its history alive, the Béliers occasionally make it reappear. It most recently
resurfaced in 2007 at les halles art gallery in Porrentruy during the art show Je ne sais quoi (I don’t quite know what) by Haus am Gern, an artist duo from Biel. However, the wheel – if it was indeed the genuine Bollement Wheel – was shrouded in blankets, which significantly enhanced its mythical aura. During the show, everyone’s talk turned on the wheel that has long stopped turning. Béliers in disguise – as well as the media, the general public, the cantonal authorities, and the cantonal police force – were present at the art event. Ever since the Béliers constituted themselves, it has been their tradition to alert Bern and Switzerland to their call for an independent Jura by means of rather crude symbolic actions. They pulled Swiss and Bernese monuments from their plinths, and stole objects that are part of the national heritage – the Unspunnen Stone, for example, and the pyra mid-shaped marker for the geographical centre of Switzer land, on Aelggi-Alp in Obwalden. In the show Je ne sais quoi this symbolic idiom was refined and ennobled insofar as the Bélier relic of Bollement was elevated to the status of an art object. Since then, Marc Freléchoux, the Béliers’ Animateur princi pal, has sounded like an anarchist art critic. He claims that taking the Unspunnen Stone or the Aelggi-Alp pyramid is neither robbery nor a prank, but a “likeable act of minor delinquency” imbued with “humorous symbolism”; “visual propaganda” to remind all of Switzerland of the issue of the unresolved Jura conflict. The Bollement Wheel and the Unspunnen Stone are symbolic pawns defending the Béliers’ dream of a United Jura. For decades the Jura dispute was not a game but an occasio nally deadly conflict; its territory the apple of historic discord. The Jura range between the Lake of Biel and the Ajoie river, that the Béliers to this day would like to liberate and re-unite, comprises the six historic districts of the former Bishopric of Basel, which bordered on Protestant Bern. After the defeat of Napoleon I, the Congress of Vienna of 1815 gave the Jura to the Canton of Bern, in compensation for Bern’s lost fiefdoms in Switzerland’s French-speaking Romandie. Differences in terms of language and religious denomination soon led to frictions in the Jura. On repeated occasions, the Bernese government sent its troops in. Its heavy-handed approach, harassment and neglect lasted far too long. Public infrastructure suffered; Jurassian politicians were denied key posts; priests were removed from their parishes. In 1893 a vast majority of voters in the districts of Jura rejected the new constitution of the Canton of Bern. 1947 saw the creation of a separatist movement, later called the Rassemblement jurassien (RJ – Rally for Jura); from 1962 the Béliers were its junior partners. Leaning towards anarchism, they defamed Bern as a colonial power. The conflict escalated in the 1960s, with the Front de libération FLJ (Jura Liberation Front) fraternising with their Algerian counterpart and the Catholic IRA of Northern Ireland; and arson and bomb attacks being directed against Bernese institutions and individuals. Several unsolved murders occured during this “hot” period of the Jura conflict.
The divide cuts across families and villages. This image shows the facades of two houses in Orvin, only hundred metres apart. left: Jurassic Crest, right: Bernese Crest
The escalation provoked a re-think among the Swiss population and the federal government. In 1978 the Swiss voters accepted the creation of the Canton of Jura. However, its territory only comprises the three northern districts of the former Bishopric of Basel because, in 1978, the three southern, predominantly Protestant districts had opted to remain with the Canton of Bern. Which is why the separatists’ struggle continues. In their eyes, the former Bishopric is the Jurassian people’s historic and indivisible – ethnic – territory. However, the creation of the new canton in 1978 brought no peace. Acts of violence and provocation continued, targeting national and Bernese symbols such as the “Fritz” in Les Rangiers, a monument to soldiers guarding the Swiss border in the 1914–18 war, or the medieval fountain figure of Justice in Bern’s Old City. The series of violent acts reached a culmination and turning point on the 9th of January, 1993, when the 21-year-old Bélier Christophe Bader from SaintBrais was killed in his car in Bern’s Nydeggstalden because the explosive charge he had been carrying exploded too soon. The inquest found that Bader had been planning an attack on the Rathaus of Bern, the seat of the cantonal government. Plans for a whole series of similar attacks were uncovered and the police found hand-grenades in the basement of then-Bélier leader Daniel Pape. The separatists began to distance themselves from violent extremists in their ranks. In 1994 the Swiss government created the Assemblée interjurassienne (AIJ – Inter-Jursassian Assembly). Representatives from both cantons, Bern and Jura, were tasked with monitoring and resolving the conflict. Since the Assembly took up its work the situation in the Jura has calmed down. Even Bélier speaker Marc Freléchoux concedes that they “are no longer in the years of hot-headed action but in the discussion phase.” The once bloody struggle has turned into a game using symbols such as the Roue de Bollement. Objects are no longer destroyed but “abducted” or “re-patriated”. The ranks of the Béliers have shrunk from 7ʼ000 to a few hundred, whose second-hand knowledge of the hot stage of the Jura conflict is based on the tales of the veterans. But still the conflict lingers on in the Béliers’ dreams of a united Jura. Following the “re-patriation”of the Bollement Wheel they were going to erect it as a monument to Christophe Bader, the “martyr” who had grown up near Bollement. So far, they have refrained to glorify his propensity to use violence. Using the current vocabulary of the anti-globalisation movement, today’s Béliers have adopted a modern take on the old conflict, re-interpreting it as a struggle for regional self-determination. Even so, the separatists and their mission have all but vanished from the public eye. Since the turning point of 1989 the Jura has found itself in a new era. People have grown more mobile; many no longer live where they work and their lives easily cross cantonal boundaries. The flames feeding on the Jura conflict have died down. Nevertheless, the Béliers have been pursuing their symbolic game to keep alive the embers of their dream of a
re-united Jura. Luckily for the Béliers, the Assemblée inter jurassienne breathed new life into the old conflict when in May 2009 they published their report about the future of the Jura, which not only recommended stronger co-operation between the Canton of Jura and the Bernese Jura region but – as an alternative option – suggested a re-union. A procedure has begun that might lead to another national plebiscite on the fate of the Jura. Actually, both sides fear such a vote because it might clarify things and put paid to false hopes and dreams. However, neither dreams of a Greater Jura nor of a Greater Bern will be in the interest of the Jura, which is a structurally weak and economically dependent industrialised region along the Jurassic arc from Geneva to Basel. It won’t be possible to resolve its problems within the separatist confines of the defunct Bishopric of Basel. The Jura only has a future if its problems are tackled within a wider, more large-scale context. At this point in time, the Béliers will have none of that. Their speaker Marc Freléchoux has already declared that they will pursue their struggle even if the Bernse Jura should again reject the re-union of the six Jurassian districts. And so the Béliers will continue to allow symbolic objects such as the Bollement Wheel to reappear. Haus am Gern’s exhibition Je ne sais quoi provided them with a welcome platform to do just that. Je ne sais quoi not only reflected but also drove the endless ness of the separatist dream by allowing the wheel to be mysteriously passed around without actually revealing it. Michel Hauser, Head of the Department of Culture of the Canton of Jura, has stated that the Roue de Bollement could only be included in the official list of Jura’s historic artefacts if and when the wheel has been carefully examined. Hauser also thinks that, regardless of the legal issue of ownership – is it the Bernese Cantonal Bank or the Canton of Jura that owns the stolen and re-stolen wheel? – the cantonal authori ties might find that the Roue de Bollement is not a cultural artefact worthy of protection but merely a dismantled fragment. It looks as if, in the official Canton of Jura, a mill wheel is just that. However, the clandestine Béliers will always see things differently. Stefan von Bergen
The historian Stefan von Bergen (1960) lives in Bern. As editor-in-chief of Zeitpunkt, the background section of the Bernese daily, Berner Zeitung, he regularly reports on the Jura issue. In 2007 he provoked the Bernese cantonal government and the Bernese Jura by publishing an article entitled, Si vous voulez partir, allez-y! (If you wish to leave, go!)
Note: On 3rd September 2010 – shortly before the present monograph went to press – the Béliers installed the “Roue de Bollement” in the centre of St. Brais with a formal celebration honoring Christoph Bader. The installation near the “Hôtel du Soleil”, where Bader grew up, was consented to by the community council but not given permission by the cantonal government. Haus am Gern was invited to the celebra tion and are mentioned on the plaque of honor. Haus am Gern in turn invited Ernst Häusermann, who had stolen, or saved, the cogwheel in 1973. To everyone’s sur prise, as a present he brought a wheel from the mill at Bollement, which he had used as a garden ornament. Béliers’ speaker Marc Freléchoux and Ernst Häusermann shook hands in conciliation.
credits Host (les halles) Espace d’Art Contemporain, Porrentruy Curator Philippe Queloz Hist. Consultant Hubert Girardin Research Tilo Steireif Sylvain Froidevaux Photos Łukasz Skąpski courtesy ŻAK|BRANICKA Galerie, Berlin Galerie Raster, Warschau (PL) Video Technology videocompany Zofingen Sound Engineering M&M Hire AG Schönenwerd Photoshoot Location Fam. Bader, Hôtel-Restaurant du Soleil, Saint-Brais Portraits Michel Hauser Ernst Häusermann Metalwork Locksmithery Frei, Corgémont Fleece shaoxing city mainfull knitting textiles co., ltd (RC) Image license Musée jurassien d’art et d’histoire, Delémont – Archives de la République et Canton du Jura La roue de Bollement Groupe Béliers Marc Freléchoux Supported by Pro Helvetia Canton Waadt Canton Bern City of Bern City of Biel/Bienne