Imaginary landscape

Late winter ’81-’82, six weeks of strike in the Liege steel works. The magazine crew from Canal Emploi covers this strike in one of the region’s most vital industries. Out of the various documents produced by the Canal Emploi crew, a synthesis of these images emerges: what do they mean, what do they tell of the past and of the future, what is their connection to every day life in the factories of fire and steel?One element interest’s us: this strike movement composed of multiple vectors ranging from excursions to explosions, passing through attempts at communications and explanation, growing exasperation and anger. It’s a strike movement with its share of craziness and commotion, refusing the repetitive and closed in gestures of every day work.All of these images of workers outside the factory walls conjure other images; those of the familiar landscapes by day and by night; those of Jules Verne’s texts about the imaginary steel works of 500 millions; those of a factory of steel and fire locked within its ramparts; those of a desolate landscape; images of Cockerill Athus ( a factory like the one in Liege) which shut down two years ago for similar reasons. Is the strike a senseless movement between these two extreme landscapes or a decisive movement to avoid ruin? The future will decide.