City: Assembled : Response

When I was walking in the gallery, I was really interested by the structure and the idea of exhibiting photography for the public. I thought that taking a photograph is a part of the work, but presenting it is really important. The scale one to one of the panorama makes that work even more interesting since you have to think of the distance between the visitor and the picture, their relation…

I looked at different historic building, constructed to accommodate panorama, such as Daguerre’s dioramas or cycloramas. These structures may appear a bit dated today since they were really famous at the end of the nineteenth century. However, I wondered if this type of constructions still exists today or if you can find contemporary constructions. Thus I looked at different projects.

Panorama XXL, Rouen - exterior

One is a new rotunda that just opened in December 2014 in the quays of Rouen (France). It is called ‘’Panorama XXL’’ and is used to exhibit the work of the German artist Yadegar Asisi who does panoramas in different sites around the world : Rome, Berlin, Amazonia, Everest. The visitor is invited to climb on three different platforms (6m, 12m and 15m) in order to observe the picture of 32 meters high, the equivalent of a building of 12 stories, with a circumference up to 110m. A structure was built between May and November and it was dedicated only for his work.

Panorama XXL, Rouen - exterior

To my mind, these different structures appear as a way to experience photography, not only to observe it as a spectator but also to ‘live the photography’. Thus, you need a transition between reality and that kind of space. In the project of Rouen, the public walks into dark corridors before arriving to the rotunda, in order to lose their spatial awareness. In the City : Assembled Panorama gallery, the surrounding space is thought as an area to exhibit 1914 documents but can also be seen as an area of transition before the main panorama.

- Hélène Guillemot