Gaillard for Pruitt-Igoe Falls

The social and political context these [building] projects were born in is rather secondary to my approach to housing complexes. What first drew me to the projects was a sort of romantic fascination with them, much like the fascination French Ruinists had for derelict scenarios. Nonetheless, I choose use these forsaken places as an act that, with time, has taken another dimension. Many European countries, indeed, have taken up overbearing Renovation politics that imply the destruction or the entire reconstruction of these buildings. The urgency of this situation has driven my work further than simple fascination.—Cyprien Gaillard in conversation with Edoardo Bonaspetti

Gaillard for Real Remnants

A few years ago I started using stolen fire extinguishers to make Land Art…The cloud formed from these fire extinguishers literally erases the landscape. Then it is redrawn. Almost as if the cloud which had at one point annihilated it, brings it back to life, and gives it a deeper dimension….Many landscapes don’t survive to this process and, even if they can be beautiful in reality, they die once they have been captured and portrayed by an artist. My intervention destroys the landscape but actually allows it to survive its representation. .—Cyprien Gaillard in conversation with Edoardo Bonaspetti