Julien Hage

A deluge of leaflets and graphic circulars: 68 – words and lines. In May 68, publishing houses, printworks and workshops were galvanised into action, working day and night. A deluge of leaflets relayed the "explosive words" of 68 (Certeau). Though transient traces of the event commemorated early on, they still belong to the political sphere's "little museum of ordinary life" (Artières). Mingled with the globalising speeches of organisations and the narratives of players, these objects make up the formal frameworks of a "symbolic revolution", particularly by institutionalising the event. Finding the core of the action again in its acts of graphic insubordination, close to the players and conflicts of the political leaflet: this is what we are exploring.

Julien Hage, historian and lecturer at Paris Nanterre University.