La Montagne

Roads, harbors, factory chimneys; Philippe Léonard's panoramic shots confront us directly with the experience of anonymity imposed by certain "non-places". French anthropologist Marc Augé defines them as landscapes produced by our modes of urbanization and often interchangeable, both in their material and symbolic dimensions. As suggested by the images, these built spaces, disproportionate in the surface they occupy, paradoxically offer no space for sociability. This is theoretically the opposite of the Kondiaronk lookout on Mount Royal, depicted here as a social theater, overloaded with interactions, movements, and words. Yet, even as the words flow and the cameras are wielded in hopes of capturing the best possible view, the scene seems to be set in an abstract and socially disconnected space. We don't really see the horizon, we are not part of the crowd, we witness it and we discover it, perhaps in spite of ourselves, in its intimacy. La Montagne thus proposes a reflection on the way space is invested and thought in our societies.
 

Yulia Kaiava
Tënk's editorial assistant