“The metropolis is becoming a ghostly landscape, the fossil of past societies where the techniques were still closely linked with the visible transformation of materials and from that sciences have gradually diverted us. Images only lasting the time of persistence of vision have replaced the shapes or volumes supposed to persist as long as the duration of their material support.”
This extract from L’espace critique by Paul Virilio perfectly illustrates the installation « department store», designed by Philippe Mouillon from a building to be destroyed because of the property speculation.
In the heart of Lyon, the imposing building runoff water, like a monumental fountain, provoking visual disorders. The architecture is distorted, purified and constantly recomposed by reflects, splashing and scum.
The installation enhances each fragment of the building, like a liquid case that protects it, thwarts our ordinary perception of space and leads us to read the quality of each detail, the overall volumetric, as well as the close environment.
