Manhattan: \"Penser différemment\"Manhattan: \"Think different\"
Manhattan: \"globalisation\"Manhattan: \"Global economy\"
Manhattan: \"smashstatusquo.com\"
Manhattan: \"Find out how much oxygen...\"
Manhattan: \"You don\'t have to run out...\"
Manhattan: "Absolute discarting"
The “Think Different” series exposes the “new economy”, real or virtual, with its increasing impact not only on our everyday life but also on our collective consciousness. Virtual spaces have created a language of their own, reflecting a frantic globalization of all things American and specific codes generated by the new markets.
The face of our urban landscape is constantly changing, pock-marked by a blight of billboards and ads glorifying the new era. The virtual world is invading our lives with incredible speed and bogus realism, generating a new myth of Aldous Huxley’s “brave new world”.
In this series, for which all the photographs were taken in 2000 in New York City’s borough of Manhattan, I want to showcase the blatant manifestations of the new economy and its impact on society. Featuring plants photographed in hothouses and public municipal gardens, the collages send a mixed message: on one hand, the mirage of a new organic and peaceful era, and on the other hand, a warning of the evil that will befall us if we allow ourselves to be lured by the message’s siren song and start believing the shiny promises of a new Eden, connected by ultra-fast worldwide communication. Beware the prickly cactus or their transliteration of unquenched thirst for love in our human relations.
With these caveats in mind, the logo of the “Think Different” series has to be interpreted with an ironic grain of salt; it invites the viewer to look with new eyes and not naively gobble the glowing promises of this would-be flamboyant new economy. Thus the title of each picture, oozing satire, appears on the image itself.
Ottawa, 2001