Pruitt-Igoe Falls

Looking like a film set, an abandoned tower block collapses in the middle of a park in the dead of night, leaving behind a cloud of dust that spreads in complete darkness. We see a soft glow emerge from the dense fog. The image gradually fades, the colours change and the cloud reveals illuminated waterfalls.

The video Pruitt-Igoe Falls (2009) by Cyprien Gaillard echoes the social housing estate built in the 1950s in St. Louis, USA. The housing estate, which consisted of 33 properties and was torn down in 1979, is proof of the failure of social housing and modern architecture in the face of the housing crisis in poor environments. For this project, Gaillard uses a video of the controlled demolition of a tower block in Glasgow, Scotland, and a video of Niagara Falls, lit from the American side, the “poor perspective” for those who cannot make it to Canada. This meeting of two spectacular falls conveys a certain feeling of melancholy.

The work Pruitt-Igoe Falls, part of the Pinault Collection, was shown at the Palazzo Grassi at the "Le Monde vous appartient" (“The World Belongs to You”) exhibition (2011-12).