The Ruins of the Gaze

The Ruins of the Gaze is a 5-screen architectonic video installation about the historic Les Halles, Europe’s biggest metro station/shopping centre complex, which is in Paris. The work was filmed just before the area was to be rebuilt. The metro station’s central traffic interchange has been nicknamed ”The Flipper”. The pinball metaphor aptly depicts the uncertain, violent character of the liberal world: stay in the game as long as possible, follow the rules, and be ready to be hurled out at any moment. The people coming face to face at Les Halles are caught between endlessly judgmental gazes, social conflicts and history, right in the centre of the city of the image. The installation’s five irregularly shaped, sculptural screens form a space of intersecting perspectives. Distinguishable amidst the masses are a few individuals who momentarily break out of the ongoing, grinding pulse of everyday life, to become untouchable.