Parody

Paris, February 2025.



The space we walk through is always marked, striated by relationships, made up of a sedimentation of traces of past activities and visual, sonic and tactile affordances open to the possibilities of future actions. Even the new building of the computer science research centre, which at first glance might seem immaculate under the glare of neon lights and screens and entirely given over to the signage and design of its designers, reveals itself, after a few detours through the corridors, already covered in inscriptions.
This A4 sheet, printed in landscape format, is a parody in which the author has performed a critical double-take aimed at partially overturning the order established by the management of the research centre. He has used the graphic codes of the ‘no food or drink’ sign posted by the managers of the new building on the doors of the shared offices and meeting rooms: the red sign in the centre of the sheet, the black font, the message written in French, then, in italics and smaller, in English; so that, at first sight, the poster blends into the material and semiotic ecology of the building. Added to this reflection (in the geometric sense of the term) of communication with researchers is a transformation referring to a shared reference, a sarcastic doubling of the management’s voice and an opportunity for another reflection (reflexivity) of the building’s users. Some of the activities of the IT security research teams are considered sensitive, so access to certain floors is subject to additional protection and authorisation from the security and defence officer. Recently, feeling that digital sovereignty had become a particularly powerful watchword, management proposed extending the restricted zone to all research teams, which would make it difficult to welcome colleagues of certain nationalities, binationals or those married to nationals of those nationalities. This is why the secure doors regulating traffic to the offices of the teams located in the ZRR have been renamed “Zone sans Baratin ni Salades” in French and No Bullshit Zone in English, an additionnal critical accomplishment and a mirror held up to science managers wishing to become bearers of that slogan.