Aquapolis, 2006

Aquarium + multi-colored transparent recyclable packaging + multi-colored transparent freshwater fish / 190 x 50 x 60 cm

Médicis fountain, Luxembourg Gardens, Paris.

An aquarium rests on the surface of a basin, in which fish live in an ideal futuristic city. Buildings and structures are represented by recyclable plastic objects, everyday consumer packaging such as water bottles, egg cartons... the fish swim in the heights of the city, like spaceships. The three elements that make up this city - water, fish and plastic recyclables - although different in nature, are all transparent.
At the opening, the fish experience this ideal of transparency. The infrastructures of their city are transparent, and they themselves seem to have adapted to their environment. In the course of the exhibition, opacity reappears. Algae pollute the transparency. The city loses its ideal. Transparency is fascinating, almost mystical, but in practice, it needs maintenance and improvement to make it liveable.