Anu Pennanen: La ruine du regard
(The Ruins of the Gaze)
30.10.–14.11.2010

Anu Pennanen’s new work about Les Halles depicts the violent character of the neoliberal world

Anu Pennanen’s new work La ruine du regard (The Ruins of the Gaze) is a 5-screen architectonic video installation about the historic Les Halles, Europe’s biggest metro station/shopping centre complex, in Paris. The work, to be shown at the Cable Gallery 30.10.–14.11.2010, was filmed just before the area was rebuilt.

The Metro station’s central traffic interchange has been nicknamed ‘Le Flipper’. The pinball metaphor aptly depicts the uncertain, violent character of the liberal world: stay in the game as long as possible, follow the rules, and be ready to be hurled out at any moment. The people coming face to face at Les Halles are caught between endlessly judgemental gazes, social conflicts and history, right at the centre of the city of the image. The installation’s five irregularly shaped, sculpture-like screens form a space of intersecting perspectives. Distinguishable amid the mass of humanity in the enormous building complex are a few individuals who momentarily break out of the ongoing, grinding pulse of everyday life, to become untouchable.

Pennanen has made La ruine du regard in collaboration with Parisians of various ages and with young film students from the suburb of Aubervilliers. This new work concludes her eight years of working in European shopping centres and public spaces. La ruine du regard is the third part of a trilogy, the first two parts being A Monument for the Invisible, shot in Helsinki, 2003, and Sõprus – Дружба (Friendship), shot in Tallinn, 2006.

The Cable Gallery exhibition has been mounted in collaboration with HIAP. The exhibition has been supported by: The City of Helsinki Cultural and Library Committee, HIAP, the Ministry of Education, the Centre Culturel Français and City of Helsinki Cultural Office’s Automne Français event and Pro AV-Saarikko Oy.

The 3-years research and collaboration process has been supported by:
Arts Council of Finland, Finnish Art Society, Greta and William Lehtinen Foundation, Kordelin Foundation, Pixelache Festival, Culturesfrance / City of Helsinki / Recollets / Cité des Arts, 104-Centquatre, FRAME, AVEK, SES, YLE Teema.