MACHINE PARALYSIS

This unconventional book launch introduces David Bergé’s latest work: MACHINE PARALYSIS. The book explores the relationship between artistic expression and themes such as disability studies, physical degeneration, crip-time, aging, and chronic conditions.

David Bergé’s work gives everyday situations and objects new meaning by translating them into time-based and book-like creations, often with a participatory element. Recently, Bergé has focused on experimenting with participatory and time-based book forms.

MACHINE PARALYSIS starts with “Mechanico” (literally “machine”), a folk dance created by the former employees of the Bialetti factory in a village called Crusinallo, Piedmont area in the North of Italy, referring to the multiple work accidents that occurred in the factory during the 1960-70s. The dance records and honors the memory, difficulties, and crippling effects caused by work accidents suffered by members of their community. This book asks how the binary ability/disability, as well as a consequence of aging or long ailments, are being experienced by differently abled people in their interactions with the world in everyday life.

The book launch plays with misleading and fictional information that emphasizes the themes of the book.

Bergé is best known for his Walk Pieces: intense 100-minute walks where the audience silently walks alongside him. In more recent projects, Bergé has turned to writing and publishing, exploring the layers of emotions, desires, and pain, as well as the history of cities, industries, and human geographies. His projects emerge from conceptual and in-depth research, personal encounters, and interdisciplinary collaborations, where he critically examines locations and their hidden histories.