Chicago

  • No Swimming, june 2003

    No Swimming, june 2003 (5)

    The beach between West Fullerton Parkway and East La Salle Street is a white strip of sand with a changing geometry. Signs tell people this is a "no swimming" area but the water in June is clear and the sun warms up the air. No winds around, the city seems so quiet.
     
  • the beach and the city

    the beach and the city (13)

    swimming ?
     
 

[2003]
Chicago has been a laboratory and a symbol of the urban project.

The beach – which stretches from the far northern end of Magnificent Mile to the Gold Coast marina - is a long strip of white sand. Facing it, is Lake Michigan, as vast as the sea. During its short summer, this flat land swept by strong winds, becomes a sort of urban eden where people come to vacate. It’s a strange image : on one side the city and its skyscrapers, on the other side the lake (almost a sea) and a long stream of billboards and sign stating « No Swimming ». All around there are law-abiding swimmers who will not swim and not far from them some waste. Mostly pieces of rusty metal, remains of a strange skeleton half-buried in the sand, emerging from the white beach. What an odd place ! Unexpected lung in the middle of the city, place of impossible promises, minimalist dump. I wanted to leave a trace of my passage there.    

[The idea]
Everything is done so that the action of swimming is a mirage.

[The project]
The words «No Swimming» written with an electro-luminescent fiber.