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.
Light installation
South Beach, Chicago
2003