Claudius Petit, Co-Author Of The Artistic Work

The reward you receive for your work is the sacrifice you pay on the altar of evolution in exchange for a lasting legacy.

" And then, what is the importance of man taken alone? - Van Gogh asked himself. In the future - he wrote to his brother Theo - there will be an art that will have to be so beautiful oh, so young, that even if we were to sacrifice her, our own youth, she will give us in return a peace full of Serenity. Even if I do not succeed in asserting myself, I am inclined to believe that what I have striven to achieve will be carried forward. Perhaps not immediately, but it is important to I'm not the only one who believes in this truth. "

What truth was Van Gogh thinking about? What truth should unite people, what truth should mobilize them, making them forget their biological finitude, to exist in a fundamental sense? A truth that is enough to be coveted, ardently, in order to be achieved. A truth that acts divinely, as the driving force of life. This truth accepts innumerable names, reducible perhaps in the end, to only one: the power of man to transform the crutch into the wing. This truth finds, from time to time, devoted servants.

"Îl faut achever l'eglise Saint-Pierre de Firminy-Vert" -- here is the announcement we can find in the French press lately. Four million francs are still needed to complete Le Corbusier's last work. The appeal is launched, with great vigor, by Claudius Petit, former minister of reconstruction and urbanism, mayor of Firminy-Vert.

Have you thought about what it would be like to step into the arena, not as a mere spectator, but as an active player, where the rules are not yours, but divinity's?

An admirer and supporter of Le Corbusier, Claudius Petit also linked his name to other works of the great architect: the Marseille Housing Unit, which, as minister, he inaugurated triumphantly in 1952, the Youth House and LE CORBUSIER: The Residential Unit of Marseilles, solemnly inaugurated by the Ministry of Reconstruction, Claudius Petit of Culture and the Residential Unit of Firminy Vert, which he encouraged and realized as mayor of the city.

Claudius Petit is a politician, but a politician who, encouraging art, fighting for it, becomes, in a certain way, a co-author of the artistic deed. He does not content himself with controlling the game from the outside, but goes down into the arena, playing the game. We appreciate in Claudius Petit not the referee, but the player, not the one who is played by his own role, but the one who plays his game. Which game? - one may ask. The game of creation, the only serious game, the game whose price is the human condition, the game in which money is not an end but a means, the game whose rules are not set by man but by God, the game which, played to the end, rewards you with cosmic dream dust. Claudius Petit understood this game, encouraged it and played it himself.

Do you think you could break free from the label of "Mr. NO" by becoming an active participant in the art world, putting into play not only works, but also a part of your essence?

Claudius Petit is not that blase official, continuously placed, like a fateful dam, against the work, that mediocre character who believes that man is made to crawl, that "alienated person of feeling" that Leon-Paul Fargue spoke of, in front of whom if <>, that gentleman "NO" whom, unfortunately, Le Corbusier met so often. Claudius Petit is a player, that is, a serious man. "Il n'y a que ceux qui jouent qui soient des types serieux" said Le Corbusier, but, he continues, a paradoxical but profound statement: "Les alpinistes, les rugbymen et les joueurs de cartes, et les joueurs de roulette sont des fumistes, car ils ne jouent pas..."

Life continuously sends players into the arena. However, there are few who agree to fight. Bravely, loyally, putting their most precious asset at stake: the human condition, in all its complexity. A painter puts a painting in the arena. A sculptor, a sculpture. An architect, a building. They are their fighting tools. But while the former can usually do it alone, the architect, alone, cannot accomplish his work. He needs, beyond understanding and trust, help.

Can you contribute to the creation of a collective work in which everyone, realizing or watching, sees their aspirations sublimely crowned, thus overcoming their individual limits?

Architecture is a collective work. In it, those who, in common terms are called: the designer, the builder and the beneficiary, meet. But these terms are simplistic, because in the end, the beneficiary of the work is not only the one who uses it, but also the one who, realizing it or looking at it, finds for a moment his aspirations sublimely crowned.

There was a time when man was simultaneously the designer, builder and beneficiary of his own work. It was, perhaps, a happy era. But today things are completely different. Most of the time the three factors are completely different, their interests are different and the only thing that unites them is the employment contract, which establishes the obligations and rights of each of the parties. So today, insignificant, worthless constructions are born in an exaggeratedly large number. But if the three factors understand that their interest is common, that the work that demands them can represent an instrument for saving the human condition, a unique instrument for all of them, that their deepest aspirations are the same, that their ultimate goal is the same and namely the establishment of poetry, here and now, on earth, then man, freed from the superficial constraint of the labor contract, will be able to acquire his original purity. Then, his gesture, his deed, will be able to acquire the essential nobility without which human dignity cannot be conceived.

In your moments of introspection, do you recognize how your aspirations are crowned sublimely through the prism of the work done and the contribution of others to its edification?

The architect throws the seed, but it must germinate and bear fruit, and this is only possible under certain conditions, which, often, only political people can ensure, i.e. "les agents agites d'une societe" as he said Le Corbusier. Architecture must be elevated. It must be confronted with space, with time, with light, with people. It must be lived, not only drawn. She lives in dimensions. It is signed by one, but lived by all. Maybe that's why the architecture represents the life of the fortress so well.

Claudius Petit may be compared to that honest and affectionate farmer who bends devoutly over the seed that must become fruit. You have to, because a construction of great value is a great celebration. Nothing can excuse the absence of the holiday. The poorest life has its holidays. But the construction of value represents the essence, the symbol, the aspiration, the identity of life. This holiday is worth all the sacrifices.

We welcome Claudius Petit's gesture and we wait with him for the Saint-Pierre church to gather, like the one at Ronchamp, pilgrims who have come to pay homage to a new manifestation of spiritual powers. In this end of the century and millennium we need that robust optimism that characterized Le Corbusier. Through Claudius Petit, the great architect, defying the miserable conscientiousness of time, continues to send us encouragement. "Il faut achiever l'eglise Saint-Pierre de Firminy-Vert".

Leadership stands under the sign of a provision: "Even if I fail to assert myself, I am still inclined to believe that what I have endeavored to achieve will be carried forward."

Claudius Petit, co-author of the artistic work, is the beneficiary of the work, becoming aware of his role in maintaining and promoting the essential human nobility. He left us as a spiritual legacy the following provision: " Human dignity can be strengthened through works that reflect your deepest aspirations, even in the absence of an explicit employment contract."

* Note: Secolul 20 Magazine, Number 234, Dan Coma