The origins. Different perspectives on racism and discrimination

Through the lens of contemporary art and informed by scientific data, the exhibition Aux origines examines one of the most powerful and persistent factors of discrimination in our society. ‘Origin’ – whether real or imagined – is a cause of exclusion and stigmatisation in everyday life. It is a reality that often goes unacknowledged, yet shapes both collective and individual life paths from childhood onwards.

This exhibition, funded by the European Union, is the result of close collaboration between the UNDETERRED Consortium, comprising 10 European and Canadian partners (Scientific Coordinator: Fabien Sabatier, assisted by Hachem Benissa), and the National Museum of the History of Immigration (Director General: Constance Rivière). It brings together the work of numerous artists and junior and senior researchers from the project’s scientific team.

The exhibition

Discrimination often stems from a mere glance. People of foreign origin and/or those perceived as such bear the brunt of it on a massive scale. This ‘origin’ – whether real, assumed or imagined – is the source of persistent stereotypes, which often shape people’s life trajectories from childhood onwards.

Through the subversive gaze of contemporary artists – including the Chevalme sisters, Patrick Zachmann, Euridice Zaituna Kala and Hamedine Kane – and previously unpublished data, the exhibition Aux origines invites us to trace these mechanisms of stigmatisation and exclusion back to their source, by examining how perceptions are formed and perpetuated.

Drawing on recent social science research, and in particular the European project UNDETERRED* – UNintentional Discrimination dETEcted and Racism REveal and Deactivate – the exhibition highlights the structural, and sometimes unconscious, nature of discrimination. Without overlooking its concrete effects in everyday life, particularly among the youngest members of society. Access to education, employment, housing or healthcare: these are all areas where this cycle produces lasting inequalities.

Echoing the statistical data, works by contemporary artists bear witness to the emotional side of this discrimination: the exhaustion, the obstacles, but also the forms of resistance and solidarity that arise from them are all intimate, lasting and often invisible effects of such discrimination.

Aux origines is a way of inviting everyone to question their own perceptions and to envisage a society free from these mechanisms of discrimination in their daily lives.

* The UNDETERRED project aims to contribute to the fight against systemic discrimination faced by young people in Europe (aged 18–35) in the areas of health, housing, education and employment. Coordinated by the University of Bordeaux, it takes as its

starting point an empirical analysis of six cities – Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Bucharest, Lausanne and Quebec – to highlight how structural discrimination permeates public policy and the daily lives of young people.