English
In Paris, it has been said, there are few places where the sky is worth more than the ground. The pedestrian walks in a state of perpetual bewilderment, amazed at the endless series of erratic and random twists and turns that make up the heart of this city: a quintessential surrealist object in itself, as Walter Benjamin observed. The visitor’s eyes are drawn from different heights, from the mouth of the Guimard Metro and the glass blocks in certain streets to the gargoyles at the top of Notre-Dame which guard the city from evil.
Almost every historical period and artistic style in European history has left its mark in Paris. As have Europe’s many wars. The city has undergone innumerable changes as its people have lived and created and, at times, fought for their very survival.
The latest war for survival involves unlikely antagonists and it is expressed in a largely urban visual language which signals a distinct paradigm shift.
The latest battlefield is set in the financial neighbourhoods where you will find banks, telecommunications companies and the media, along with advertising agencies and multinational corporations like Coca-Cola. It all began in the gleaming facades of the office park in Montreuil, east of the city, but soon spread into the modern business district of La Défense and the enclave of Ile de France Issy-les-Molineaux. Everyday there are new battles being waged, both in the very centre of Paris and in distant cities such as Lille and Lyon, prompting fears that the conflict could cross the Channel and extend to England.
The country is suffering the fatal consequences of an economic crisis triggered by speculators taking advantage of global deregulation of financial markets. Thousands of workers are seeing their living conditions deteriorate, and public services are cut at unprecedented rates to meet the demands of those who caused the debacle. Those responsible are dictating the new terms, condemning coming generations to a new form of slavery, while the young executives of rival companies meet for lunch in order to agree on who will lose and who will win in each battle.
The most visible weapons used so far are small self-adhesive sheets known as post-its which the employees of these companies use to decorate the windows of their offices, creating designs that are often too complex to decipher without the help of specialized software.
Paul Oilzum
The company that is currently winning the war, and which began hostilities, is Ubisoft. Their latest creation uses 3000 Post-it notes and takes up three floors. It looks like the war will soon spread to apartments in Paris buildings too.
Translated by: Ben Palmer
