This second issue of the collection En résidence is published on the occasion of the artist Paul Heintz’s residency at Crédac in 2022-2023, which he devoted to his research on the obstruction strike.
This type of strike has the particularity of not being overt, insofar as the workers are at their posts and carrying out their usual tasks. The modus operandi then consists in disrupting productivity while maintaining the illusion of work: the rhythm of tasks is surreptitiously slowed down (the “slowdown”), instructions are applied with excessive zeal. These strikes are a form of discreet sabotage, to stop the machine from the inside, which can border on the comical.

The graphic design studio Kiösk has given form to the various gestures and actions of obstruction collected in the archives by Paul Heintz in the course of his research, by taking up a typography of lettering-aids and by composing the edition in such a way that each sheet, once unstapled, can become a leaflet calling for an obstructive action.

The enumeration of the possible ways to slow down the work is put in perspective thanks to the critical text written, at the invitation of the artist, by the researcher Victor Cachard, author in particular of Histoire du sabotage¹.