Chaque Mercredi Caracas
This markedly landscape-format and highly flexible self-publication made of newspaper, containing over 200 black-and-white images cut out from historical travel reportages, has a strong identity and is an astute reflection on the COVID-19 pandemic. The cut-outs come from the New York Times and Le Monde since the 1960s, and each is presented in isolation on the right-hand page, coarsely grained as a result of being enlarged. While a brief, somewhat enigmatic text on the cover and a few conceptual thoughts at the end reference the relationship between tourism and colonialism, a slim insert containing letters written by friends of the participants addresses life under pandemic conditions. The publication thus reveals itself to be a commentary on the far-reaching travel restrictions of 2020, but the randomly combined source material, occasionally cropped in unconventional fashion, does not propose an unambiguous narrative. Instead, it manifests the expectations of readers who immerse themselves in images and imagined paradises precisely because they are unable to travel.
