“I believe
in the power of fiction, in the semantic and provocative force of improbable
images to challenge the icons of our cities, forcing us to rediscover the power
that initially built them. The purpose of this fictional dimension is to bring
to light what we do not see – or what have not yet seen. A work of fiction is
made realistic through provocative collages that change contexts and displace
the obvious. It evokes the possibility of radical interventions on sites that
appear forever frozen by the concretions of history. These collages cannot be
reduced to utopias, or visionary phantasmagorias, but rather they suggest
unprecedented yet feasible interventions, inserted into the heart of our urban realities.”
On the Arc de Triomphe fiction, pg. 20
“When one
is proposing an intervention on an object as iconic as the Arc de Triomphe,
placing the focus on its commemorative purpose, revealing its foundation, and
its place in the cityscape, it functions like a new façade. This new way of
highlighting the monument gives it a new power, intensifies its emotional
charge. It now seems even more deeply embedded in the earth, the entire layout
of the rooms underground dedicated to ceremonies is revealed, and their
evocative power amplified. The possible fiction of an Arc de Triomphe placed upon
an esplanade of glass shows that emphasizing the ground in this way does not in
the least diminish the feelings of intimacy, and remembrance it inspires, nor
its symbolism. The building is no longer simply symmetrically placed on the
four supporting columns of its arcades. The reflections forming on the glass
esplanade multiply and divide the conventional image of the monument, radically
changing its relationship with space, and therefore the perception of its topographical
link with the city.”