Some people ask us where the phrase Be Realistic. Demand the Impossible comes from. The proper answer is nobody knows, or at least, I don't. It was an offspring of the uprisings that appeared all over Europe, from Prague to Paris in May 1968, and appeared on walls around Paris, inspired or written by the enrages and the situationists.

What made the uprisings of '68 different was the curious alliance between students, artists and trade unions. Where else would you see slogans that demanded "All power to the imagination" or declared "I take my desires for reality because I believe in the reality of my desires" or "Unbutton your mind as often as your fly". It was an existentialist revolution, that engaged with the abstractions and expressions of art and was, as much as anything, a revolt against the humdrum realities of everyday life, failed, and became symbolic of the failed idealism of the sixties.

For five hopeful minutes some began to believe that the world would change, that governments would topple and hope would be restored in a world of peace and reason, but the tanks, the riot police, and the deadening hand of normality rolled in, and all that was left behind was the graffiti.

Some of it has been collected here.

"Let’s not change bosses, let’s change life"

"When examined, answer with questions!"

"Don’t liberate me — I’ll take care of that"