Philosopher Bruno Latour and his collaborator Emilie Hermant have produced
Paris Ville Invisible. It鈥檚 hard to tell quite what it is: a book? A city map? A
tale of hidden people and buildings? Under the photographer鈥檚 eyes signs,
paths鈥攁ll the systems and processes that make up the sinews of a
city鈥攗nravel. Nightmarish colours, bleached images鈥攖ourist Paris
vanishes before your eyes. The huge pages are stuffed full of words from
philosophical assertion to accounts from engineers to maintenance workers. The
city built of words and images won鈥檛 look like any Paris you know but it is an
account of how the familiar face of the city is constructed. Perhaps this is the
philosopher鈥檚 plot: first deconstruct, then rebuild . . . And it鈥檚 in
French.
Published by Institut Synthelabo, 250 francs, ISBN 2843240573.
