MASKING THE MONUMENT'S PURPOSE

THE HOMAGE TO MAGNATES, CAMOUFLAGED OR IGNORED

Their entrance has vanished:

(Since 2011)

The statues have been "restored." Rather than almost palpable,

they are hard, slick and cold:

# # #

But how mask a space so vast that only its center is used? Two-thirds are easily neutralized...

• The section near the department stores is naturally hidden until late afternoon. The light is in the eye and passers-by see the colonnade alone:   

• The center is a restaurant terrace. Tables and parasols divide its immensity...

 ...while greenery and a barrier separate it from the street:

Passers-by do not notice it:

# # #

But the last third is too big to hide. Empty, it stands out. Changing the exit masks the space from visitors leaving the building:

• They used to leave by a vast glass portal, descended a staircase that was short but wide, walked through the whole space and left with a sense of majesty.

The pothole shows disregard for the past and the belief that the new exit will let it pass unnoticed.  

• Now a small, dark, new exit leads directly to the street.*

* Because the much smaller doorway is easier to guard from theft? On the contrary: Half closed, the earlier glass door was of the same size and its luminosity favored control. 

That is another example of a detail that seems to have little importance, yet throws light on what counts most. 

 

But about passers-by 

there is nothing to be done. 

This photo was not posed

and the onlooker seems to wonder

why there should be space 

that is empty except for a pothole.

*     *     *

Merch can seem to explain the change