It was during a stay of several months in Bangkok that I discovered the world of megalopolises. Having grown up in Paris, where every building is steeped in history, the crushing and impersonal nature of modern Asian cities has exercised me a great deal. So I embarked on several photographic series questioning man’s relationship to his urban surroundings. 

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In my work as a video-maker, I use static shots to film the movements and judders of cities, removing all sound from them. So through theuse of blurred images, I like to introduce a poetic texture into a framework which, on the face of it, is bare. This makes it possible to haveaccess to another almost surreal dimension of cities. Sometimes I also manage to film very fast, as if what were involved is a lightening traverse. This modus operandi creates a skimmed vision to which, at my request, a musician adds an overwhelming sound. This makes it possible to express the whole absurdity of the relation between contemporary man and a sterile urbanism, which he has not yet had time to steep with his individuality. This skimming element, which exaggerates the blurredness and evanescence of the subject filmed, reminds us how much we keep forgetting to question ourselves about the meaning of city life.

I see cities like living, autonomous beings which breathe. They are our envelope, a skin in which we live, and which absorbs us. So I find it interesting to remove myself from them in order to cast a lucid eye on them, but one which distorts their reality. What’s more, my work is not intended to be either documentary or didactic. It simply wants to offer a quick look, a passage through, a dreamlike plunge.

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I’m attracted by cities which haven’t had time to forge an architectural history for themselves. Unlike the European metropolises, which have gone through wars and generations, and whose development is slow and on-going, other megalopolises are forever being destroyed and rebuilt. They are brought into being by the society surrounding us, and are almost totally contemporary with us. Their lack of charm thus becomes a substance from which to service beauty. These cities are rarely structured, and it’s in their chaos that I look for a coherence.

I liking working the “urban matter”, a malleable matter, changing and in perpetual motion.

My first video is the extension of a photographic series. It involves a static shot, with no sound. Conversely, some photographs are a breakdown of movements, forming the equivalent of a second of film. So I invariably use a method that is on the boundary of the other.

Some cities, like Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, tend to inspire me to use video. This comes from their frenzied character which spontaneously calls for an image in motion. But this choice can also be dictated by noise, heat and smell. On the other hand, more static environments, like Paris (with the exception of the ring-road) and Tokyo, tend to inspire in me a gentleness which I want to hold on to. It’s a story that’s told in silence. Tadzio