The fall of the Leviathan

Large scale installation. Interactive
2021
Street lights, traffic lights, road signs, security signs, stage lights fixtures, industrial lightings, electronics, sensors

In the Fall of the Leviathan, a monumental heap of road signs, public lights, surveillance cameras, electronic boxes seem to have fallen on the ground, still half hung to the ceiling. It still works, its signals slowly blinking, mechanisms humming. When the spectators approach, the signals animate and seem to be sending orders and directions in a frenetic and contradictory manner.

The Leviathan, according to Hobbes, refers to the State, the first artificiel creature created by the humans, to protect them from themselves. Here, it is agonising and still tries, despite its fall, to exercise its power on society by trying to control, using its visual and audio signals, the humans who approach it.

Produced for the solo exhibition Etre Machine, in the Centre d’Art Les Eglises of Chelles (FR) from Sept 9 to Nov 7th 2021.
Production : La Ville de Chelles
Co-production : SIANA
Support : CITEOS, les Ateliers Municipaux de Chelles
With the precious help from Lou Fournier, Aurélien Giraudet and Renaud Codron for the setup
Thanks to Hortense Gauthier and Fanny Bordier for their cristalline eye
Special thanks to Leonor Gauthier

Photos : Quentin Chevrier