Issue 1 of l’idiot utile is a constraint-free home for bizarre and brilliant photography

Hubert Crabières and Alexis Etienne, the co-founders of the journal l’idiot utile, pursue several objectives. One of them is to build a “structure of resistance” –to open up a creative space with as few constraints as possible and free from external censorship. They also pursue sincerity in costumes, clothing and disguise whilst detaching these practices from the fashion world. Clothes are, as Hubert puts it: “often unwearable and exist only within the photographic moment”. In Issue 1 of l’idiot utile, which follows Issue 0, they are creating a moment that could last forever – a maximalist and extremely pro-art collection of photographs that emphasise process, experimentation, symbology and joy.

Hubert’s role as the journal’s photographer consists of developing collaborative projects. He works with Josiane Martinho for the fashion components, and with designer and artist friends (Wataru Tominaga, Daniela Eschbacher, Venus Hermitant, Dehyon Xo, Kidows Kim, Morio Deguchi, Louise Crabières, etc) qll of whom he has created long-term professional relationships with in order to “allow for more horizontal forms of collaboration, where contradictions can emerge and give rise to debate and listening”. Hubert usually starts with a list of visual ideas he wants to explore and gathers friends, neighbours, and acquaintances from Argenteuil to help bring many of the images to life. “For the text component, the process is similar: people whose ongoing research inspires us are invited to write original contributions,” says Alexis.

In an attempt to push the experimental dimension as far as possible, Issue 1 features artists submerged entirely into tables adorned with multicoloured glassware or subjects painted over, merging into a canvas – simply put, it’s about immersion and absorption into creative practices. Described as an “activist journal”, l’idiot utile aims to create a direct dialogue with “evolving ways of seeing and thinking”, and many of these photographs do just that. A room made completely of clothing prompts the viewer to explore this ocular mazework for details and narrative – or perhaps somebody hiding inside the sea of fabric. In another photo, a man inexplicably hovers outside of a window with a glittering cityscape behind him – it’s a photo that recalls the feeling of seeing a magic trick when you’re a kid.

“l’idiot utile (the useful idiot) is someone who knows themselves to be foolish enough to try to be useful, taking advantage of the freedom that ‘idiocy’ gives them to approach subjects that concern them directly,” say Hubert. At a time when images circulate freely on other platforms, the journal’s fragmented layout encourages exploratory reading. A bite back at fast culture and the disposability of art made for trends, l’idiot utile is instead slow-paced, toothy, funny, and information-dense offering multilingual segments and photographs that critically and experimentally examine the attention economy and our own reading habits. The prankster energy that emanates from l’idiot utile in a myriad of ways, be it loudly or quietly, is what propels the content into becoming really memorable long after you’ve stepped away from the pages.