Le BIR, bureau d’investigation du réel for insiders, is a is a laboratory for critical and design thinking based in Arles.

Its objective is to explore:

• new ways of living together ,
• creating innovative uses of the world ,
• disseminating new polifiction narratives* that encourage the ongoing transition towards a more respectful and just world ,
• collectively developing a culture adapted to the necessary systemic changes.

* politically driven fictional narratives



Founded in 2018, it offers a joyful, experimental, experiential, vibrant, and enthousiastic framework, particularly for the following projects:

• leboudoir2.0, a laboratory for reflecting on why and how to disseminate images today ;
• the shelter, a residency program exploring the ontology of the image and the Arlesian territory from an ecological perspectiv ;
• les maisons bleues, a network of shared and intergenerational eco-places in the heart of the city;
• #nousavonstantapartager, workshops on image education and personal expression.


Its actions take the form of :


• Meetings, discussions, roundtables, open conversations ,
• Residencies ,
• Performances ,
• Workshops for developing critical perspectives, co-constructing new possibilities, and hybridizing thoughts and points of view ,
• Projects of social innovation and ecological transition proposing a fresh look at necessary cohabitations ,
• Publications with a strong inclination towards zines.

It presents itself as a nomadic laboratorystrong> that collectively observes, analyzes, and questions our environment, offering safe spaces for the co-construction of new imaginaries specifically designed for this purpose.

Our work focuses on establishing a strong sense of community, mobilizing collective intelligence, and developing critical thinkingstrong> in order to unleash the potential of each individual to imagine innovative, radically inclusive, and respectful approaches that embrace differences and complementaritiesstrong>.

By combating our own cognitive biases, nurturing a non-dogmatic perspective based on research, doubt, and acceptance of possible errors, we can unleash the power we all possess to actively shape reality during its very construction process.

To achieve this, the BIR adopts the method developed over time by Annakarin Quinto, based on the following principles :

• Detecting, encouraging, and respecting the differences and specificities of each individual
• Methodical inclusivity
• Developing an intelligence that fosters connections
• Attentive observation that promotes listening
• Compassionate curiosity that becomes care
• Systematic critique of dogmas that fertilizes innovation
• The indispensable humility to embrace genuine innovation
  

This methodological approach, which we could describe as synaptic, draws inspiration from the medical principle of revulsion* and the critical thinking developed by Bataille in "The Accursed Share." It involves replacing dialectical and dualistic thinking with a mode of systematic triangulation in our reflective process.br>

* révulsion \ʁe.vyl.sjɔ̃\ Therapeutic process that provokes an influx of blood into a region more or less distant from the site of a pathological condition, with the aim of decongesting the affected organ. Through this process, an organ is brought closer to its healing by acting on a seemingly unrelated point that is considered non-pertinent at first glance.