A striking new mural celebrating industrial worker heritage has been unveiled in the Palente-Orchamps district, honoring the social movement that defined the Timex-Kelton factories during the 1970s and 1980s. The ambitious project, spearheaded by the association Muralistes Associés, stands as a powerful tribute to the area's working-class history and community solidarity.

Located at 10 rue Maurice Ravel on the facade facing Place Olof Palme, the massive artwork strategically anchors this historical narrative in a location directly connected to Besançon's industrial past. The mural, titled 'Le murmure des forces' (The Murmur of Forces), measures an impressive 49 feet high by 33 feet wide, creating a dominant presence in the urban landscape.

The artwork represents a unique international collaboration between Besançon-based artist Vincent Small and Scottish muralist KMG from Dundee. This partnership carries special significance, as both cities were historically linked through the industrial operations of Timex-Kelton, and now reconnect through this artistic and symbolic dialogue. 'Even in our way of creating, we have to understand each other, work together, and coordinate, just as workers would have done in the factory,' explains Vincent Small, the local artist.

Vincent Small brings an abstract approach to the collaboration, focusing on transparency, layering, and color interplay to create an immersive visual experience. 'I sought to represent crowds of people, workers who came to the factory and were separated according to their tasks. They wore different colored uniforms depending on the work they had to accomplish,' Small explains. 'I also wanted to represent the repetition of very mechanical gestures, which refers to assembly line work.'

Meanwhile, KMG adopts a figurative and narrative style, developed through dialogue with local residents and deeply rooted in the area's social and cultural stories. Together, the two artists have created a work that centers on themes of worker solidarity, unity, and shared memory, bridging past and present through visual storytelling.

The mural project began on Monday, September 8, with completion scheduled for Saturday, September 13, bringing this significant cultural addition to the community in just one week of intensive artistic collaboration.