Paris outside the ring
Inside or out ? What does it mean nowadays ? The périphérique, the freeway that runs all around Paris, has been for years some kind of a border. Here we are outside. In Aubervilliers, actually just a few hundred meters from what we call Paris intramuros. Suburbs as would any Parisian say. Does it make it an entirely different territory ? It looks like it, but this is where a lot of of television studios are situated. So this is where a lot of really parisian events happen… In such a centralized country as France, everything is supposed to originate from the capital. But as you can see, this is not true. The powerful media are operating from outside the city limits ! What I like here is the completely desolate space, empty of life, with some kind of outside bowels, just like the architects from the Pompidou Center - right in the center of the town - have tried to replicate. But here, it is not an artefact producing an effect, it is purely functional. And you have to imagine the bustling activity inside one of those constructions, VIPs being cuddled, video technicians running around, journalists preparing naughty questions, lots of light, lots of heat inside, when it is freezing outside…