Les grands espaces 2019
Abandoned Ballroom in ex East Germany. From the Series "Last Tango in Nowhereland".
Before the fall of the wall in 1989, every village in East Germany had its village hall. Generations of villagers came to forget every weekend the harshness of everyday life by partying. Dancing. The villages rivaled each other with a lot of decoration with their means, which were not all equal. After 1989, slowly, inexorably the rooms were deserted, forgotten, neglected, abandoned. During a trip to East Germany I visited about thirty of these abandoned rooms. Access is not always easy. Forbidden in most cases. When we see the condition of some floors and ceilings we quickly understand why. Here, I present to you a selection of 10 of these rooms. If you listen well you may hear the party in full swing.
Souffler n'est pas jouer 2019
Abandoned Ballroom in ex East Germany. From the Series "Last Tango in Nowhereland".
Before the fall of the wall in 1989, every village in East Germany had its village hall. Generations of villagers came to forget every weekend the harshness of everyday life by partying. Dancing. The villages rivaled each other with a lot of decoration with their means, which were not all equal. After 1989, slowly, inexorably the rooms were deserted, forgotten, neglected, abandoned. During a trip to East Germany I visited about thirty of these abandoned rooms. Access is not always easy. Forbidden in most cases. When we see the condition of some floors and ceilings we quickly understand why. Here, I present to you a selection of 10 of these rooms. If you listen well you may hear the party in full swing.
Danse macabre 2019
Abandoned Ballroom in ex East Germany. From the Series "Last Tango in Nowhereland".
Before the fall of the wall in 1989, every village in East Germany had its village hall. Generations of villagers came to forget every weekend the harshness of everyday life by partying. Dancing. The villages rivaled each other with a lot of decoration with their means, which were not all equal. After 1989, slowly, inexorably the rooms were deserted, forgotten, neglected, abandoned. During a trip to East Germany I visited about thirty of these abandoned rooms. Access is not always easy. Forbidden in most cases. When we see the condition of some floors and ceilings we quickly understand why. Here, I present to you a selection of 10 of these rooms. If you listen well you may hear the party in full swing.
Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by COCA.
FRANCIS MESLET
France
A graduate in Design from the Fine Art School of Nancy in 1986, early in his career Francis Meslet was a designer, but soon turned to advertising when he joined several agencies as an artistic director. After 30 years spent questioning the creative concept and studying images in all his compositions, he is now a creative director. Francis does not hesitate to roam the world in his spare time, searching for abandoned sites, sanctuaries where time seems to have stopped after humans have evacuated them. He thus brings back captivating and melancholic images of his travels to the other side of the world…
Like time capsules, testifying to a parallel world and perfect for enabling the mind to wander and ponder, Francis Meslet’s melancholic images brave the passage of time, making way for silence after the memories left behind by human inhabitation.