
11.04.2012 / Arts & Culture
Apocalyptic scenarios
Remember the scenes depicting the abandoned city from the movie I Am Legend? It is deeply impressive to see a familiar place devoid of the human presence, with all its noises and mechanical appendages.
Probably because we do not really know those places in their physical and architectural pureness. Or maybe, on the contrary, because traffic, noises and the constant flow of anonymous faces – in other words the human landscape – are an integral part of the urban landscape.
Which is exactly the same impression you get from a recent work by Lucie & Simon, a Paris-based duo with a very fresh and original approach to visual art. Silent World is a video built with a series of photographs depicting some very famous places in the world as either completely deserted or including a solitary observer.Times Square in New York, Place de la Concorde in Paris, Tiananmen Square in Bejin…
At first it seems hard to recognize these vaguely apocalyptic places, but then a dejà -vu sensation takes over, and finally you start to question the images’ authenticity.
In case you’re wondering how they managed to wipe out every human trace from the world’s greatest cities, here’s the answer: long exposures and ND filters can actually make people and cars magically vanish from the scene.
A simple and yet ingenious idea that earned the duo a couple of awards and a huge web popularity.
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