They are less than 500 kilometers apart, but the exhibitions currently on display in Tours and Montpellier (France) are diametrically opposed, at least at first glance.

In Montpellier, “Apocalypse” tells of the disappearance of cities, from Dresden to Detroit (1944-2010), an exhibition on display at the Pavillon Populaire until February 12, 2012.

On the other hand, “Photographies à l’oeuvre” in Tours demonstrates the reconstruction of French cities (1945-1958).

In the Pavillon Populaire, the disappearance “offered and constructed” by Alain Sayag is part of artistic director Gilles Mora’s urban photography cycle that will close in March 2012 with William Eugene Smith’s immense, unfinished masterpiece, on Pittsburgh.

After the previous program on Brassaï’s urban American views, Alain Sayag writes about the destruction of these cities, the ruins and mythologies they evoke. From the Apocalypse in the last book of the “New Testament” to the “Radeau de la Méduse”, the great fire of London, the ruins of the Tuileries… all bring a modern sentiment to which romantics will add “a penchant towards the obscure, a taste for the sketch and the unfinished, where dreams penetrate more easily…” he argues in the exhibition catalog.

Visitors discover the German cities of Dresden, Cologne, Berlin and Munich, succumbing to the Anglo-American aviation’s “tempest of flames”, slow, methodical destruction, the ruins in Hiroshima by Hiromi Tsuchida or those of 1990’s Beirut photographed by Gabriele Basilico.

The weight of recent history is palpable, the apocalypse threatening, urban spaces emptying, ghost cities remaining. Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre’s end of the American dream with 20 prints of Detroit, from “The Ruins of Detroit” by Steidl. Mun Chen’s empty Canton towers and Philippe Chancel’s towering Dubaï skyscrapers.

Despite the absence of documents testifying to the destruction in France, the exhibition remains powerful for the previously unreleased documents from Austrian and German period archives.

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Exhibition

Montpellier
Apocalypses, la disparition des villes de Dresde à Détroit (1944-2010)
Until February 12, 2012

Pavillon Populaire
Esplanade Charles de Gaulle
34000 Montpellier
France
+33 (0)4 67 66 13 46

Catalogue

Apocalypses, la disparition des villes
Text by Alain Sayag
Collection le pavillon des Images
Édition Démocratic Books