Northern Ireland has a reputation for wit in its graffitti. But the French have a clear sense of style. For a week the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) was occupied by students who caused €1m of damage in their protest against the government’s proposed Labour reforms.
…for one EHESS lecturer, the most striking feature of the occupation was the graffiti. “I realised straight away that there was a number of extremely interesting things,” said Béatrice Fraenkel, who teaches semiology. “They had managed to cover everything – walls, floors, ceilings – in writing.” Some of the “artwork” is striking. A clock has scrawled across it: “Time is an invention of people incapable of love.” The same perpetrator may have been responsible for daubing a giant black cross over a timepiece in another classroom.
Another one for the anti Enlightenment intellectual insurgency?
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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