Thanks
THANKS | Lyon 2009 | 2009
exhibition in resonance with la biennale de Lyon 2009
with the support of la DRAC Rhône-Alpes and ATC caractères
with the support of la DRAC Rhône-Alpes and ATC caractères
Every 8th December, the Fourvière hill is illuminated by the sign « MERCI (to Marie) », which is visible everywhere in Lyon. The project of replacing this sign by THANKS was not realizable for lack of authorization.
Nevertheless, THANKS found another space, at the back of the Docks, in the Z building. There,
an amount of rubble moves inwards, from the outside to the inside, and takes a new dimension in this context.
White letters are placed at its top; only the letter « H » is black. The reading waves between THANKS and TANKS, between the hill and the ruin. Its character font is the same one as the Hollywood Sign. This huge advertising headline is a symbol of dreams and desires until the year 1932, when a young actress convinced that she failed her career climbed onto the letter « H » and leaped into the void.
From that tragic moment, the Hollywood Sign started to embody the metaphor of Hollywood as the land of broken dreams. A few years later, in 1949, this same letter « H » was knocked over by the wind.
Here, like in Hollywood, the letter « H », mute, erases itself and disrupts things, changes the meaning and the perception of a landscape that it silently witnesses.
Nevertheless, THANKS found another space, at the back of the Docks, in the Z building. There,
an amount of rubble moves inwards, from the outside to the inside, and takes a new dimension in this context.
White letters are placed at its top; only the letter « H » is black. The reading waves between THANKS and TANKS, between the hill and the ruin. Its character font is the same one as the Hollywood Sign. This huge advertising headline is a symbol of dreams and desires until the year 1932, when a young actress convinced that she failed her career climbed onto the letter « H » and leaped into the void.
From that tragic moment, the Hollywood Sign started to embody the metaphor of Hollywood as the land of broken dreams. A few years later, in 1949, this same letter « H » was knocked over by the wind.
Here, like in Hollywood, the letter « H », mute, erases itself and disrupts things, changes the meaning and the perception of a landscape that it silently witnesses.