4.8.1. A NEW SOCIETY CREEPS IN

MIXING CULTURE WITH COMMERCE WOULD HAVE SEEMED VULGAR A GENERATION AGO. 

But now... 

• Brands take over the historic center, the medieval rampart under the Louvre vanishes under an installation that leads to a McDonald's, a tablet to rent replaces Marie-Antoinette's cell, chain stores or shops without personality replace businesses that had a soul, as here and here.

• A brand even takes over Napoleon's tomb:

Claude Abron

In museums and monuments, merch can be impossible to avoid... 

• A barrier at the Conciergerie forces visitors to pass the boutique when they leave:

 

• At the Opéra, visitors pass through three levels of shops before reaching the exit:

• At the Louvre, to view Raft and Liberty one must pass through this room...

• While another boutique covers the exit's wall: 

PHOTO

 # # #

Triviality, consumerism and erasing the past —  is there a connection ?

*     *     * 

 

Next,

4.8.2.

Goddesses loom over the city