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Decrypting the Panthéon
The ambition of this installation conceived for the Center of National Monuments, is to make the 14 of July a festive, popular, scholarly and republican event. We wished to revive the illustrious lodgers of the underground funerary crypt within the open space of the Panthéon, so that their spirits may rise and take the floor. These voices from beyond the grave, which continue to engage our contemporary debates, are listened to through an apparatus that is interactive, visual, and sonic. Nine immense balloons – measuring 2.5 meters in diameter – float in the vaulted space of the. Each balloon is equipped with a unique sonic apparatus, a directional wave which will carry the voices from the crypt. The collection of voices create a subtle murmur - a discreet republican choir - like a whispered conversation which discreetly fills the space. It is beneath each balloon that the voice and the discourse become intelligible, but only for the person who stands directly beneath. The illustrious men and women do not declaim but rather speak to each of us in a private, almost intimate, relationship.