For fifteen years, Philippe Chancel has explored sensitive areas of our planet to study the world and document the most alarming symptoms of its decline. Working in such a way does not fit in with any identified genre of photography, making Datazone an invention that encompasses the most tangible signs of a predicted disaster: a traumatic ecology, chaotic deindustrialization, toxic setbacks resulting from modernization. From China to the United States, from Africa to Europe, the whole world is screaming, with no shelter in sight.
Rather than a manifesto, the 14 photographed sites evoke an epic worthy of Cervantes’ Don Quixote. The fight against the absurd depicts a legendary fresco: ours. What can photography do when information is no longer relevant? This “too late” statement forms the base of Datazone, and the future of these ruins. Globalization is a sunless civilization, where people survive waiting for the apocalypse, while political regimes deprive them of any solutions.
Philippe Chancel is a classic photographer. Everything he builds confirms that the modern world has not kept its promise. A great narrative is made of assembled images that show a profound sensitivity to the world. This move towards the precipice holds the euphoric attempt of a rebound. The beauty of the images may seem ludicrous, but holding on to the esthetics is the only way to recover a taste for life. Our era’s sick beauty gives birth to Datazone.
This exhibition causes vertigo while hopefully allowing us to regain our footing. Let’s imagine, if only for a moment, that we are from an earlier age, and Datazone shows our future: we could thank the photographer for having warned us, and for changing the course of history.
But it is impossible.
Up until now.
Michel Poivert
Exhibition curator: Michel Poivert.
Exhibition design: Studio Adrien Gardère.
Partnership with the Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. With support from Fidal and Melanie Rio Fluency.
Born 1959, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. Lives and works in Paris, France.
For over twenty years, Philippe Chancel has been pursuing a photographic experience at the junction between art, documentary and journalism. He was introduced to photography at a young age, and studied economics (Université de Nanterre) and journalism (CFPJ de Paris). His work has been displayed at the Barbican Centre in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, C/O Berlin, the Open Eye Society Foundation in New York, the 53rd Venice Biennale, and at the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow, among others. His Datazone project, displayed and published both in France and abroad, is exhibited in its entirety for the very first time at the Rencontres d’Arles 2019.
Texts by Michel Poivert and Philippe Chancel. English translation by Jeremy Harrison.
26 x 32 cm, 424 pages
Linen hardcover.
ISBN: 979-10-95822-06-6, Juin 2019
ARTE Journal, "Philippe Chancel à Arles", par R. Bonnet, 17.07.19
France Inter, Regardez Voir, "Philippe Chancel, voyage dans un monde sous tension", 20.07.19
L'Obs, "Face aux catastrophes annoncées, la photographie peut-elle encore nous faire réagir ?", par Pierre Haski, 13.07.19
France Culture, L'invité culture, Philippe Chancel et Marina Gadonneix, 11.07.19
La Libre, "Datazone, Le monde hurle à nos yeux", par J-M. Bodson, 10.07.19
Aesthetica, "Rencontres d'Arles : Exploring Geopolitics", June/July 2019
ARTE, Metropolis, "Les Rencontres d'Arles", par C. Wittrock, 04.07.19
France Info, "Photographie : avec Datazone, Philippe Chancel alerte sur les dérives du monde", par A. Chépeau, 02.07.19
L'express, Rencontres d'Arles au délà du réel, par J. Bordier, 17.07.19
Chronique de Polka Magazine "Les photos de la semaine" sur France Info, 07.07.19
Beaux-Art Magazine, "Arles, De si belles Rencontres", par E. Lequeux et N. Nataf, juillet 2019
Grazia, "La zone et le territoire", par L. Martin, 07.07.19
The Art Newspaper, "Le monde selon Philippe Chancel et Mohammed Bourouissa aux Rencontres d'Arles", par B. MArcelis, 05.07.19
art press, LES RENCONTRES DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE, 50 ANS 50 EXPOS, par M. Bernard, 12.07.19
Libération, "Datazone, un monde épars", par G. Renaud, 06 et 07.07.19
AMA - Art Media Agency, Discussion with Philippe Chancel, July 2019
For all the images : Philippe Chancel, Datazone. © Philippe Chancel / Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.
Philippe Chancel's portrait is ©Pierre Marsaut, 2019.