Le commun des mortels, "From popular photography… to the ready-made"

As Susan Sontag once said, "Photography should not suggest but show". The collection "Le commun des mortels" (formerly known as Atelier Kloug), consisting of hundreds of thousands of these photographs found at flea markets, is organized thematically, thus becoming a mirror of what is common, daily, and ordinary. Elise Pic and Jacques Barbier propose a different way of looking at these vintage photographs they have discovered. They reject any fictional narrative or nostalgia that interferes with the image, in favor of a detached perspective devoid of pathos, focusing on the "image itself," on the detail. Adopting a completely objective view, as if through the lens of a camera, changes the perception of these commonly regarded as familiar photographs. They evoke questions about the nature and significance of these photographs in their formal dimension compared to the emotional one. The collection of photographs expresses the customs, aesthetics, ideals, and practices of its era. The photographs turn out to be fresh works of art and connect with ready-made, challenging notions of authorship, originality, usefulness, and authenticity.