Babel 50 Annecy

Babel 50 Annecy is a monumental totem pole of photographs. Jean-François Rauzier shows us the city in three different eras and architectural styles. A creator of dreamlike worlds, he takes us on a trip to look at urban space through the prism of a captivating architectural kaleidoscope.
The totem shows three aspects of the city’s architecture: buildings around the Thiou canal, the architecture of the 1930s, and the rest of the city. Using Hyperphoto, a method he invented, Rauzier combines thousands of photos into a collage with surprising details. Before creating his works, he conducts historical and artistic “digs”. The experience is enhanced by flashing a QR code that allows viewers to zoom in on the tiniest details of the photos to read historical anecdotes about each building. It’s an invitation to think about our place in the city, a walk through the narrow lanes of this Annecy-based tower of Babel.

Born in 1952, French photographer and visual artist Jean-François Rauzier lives and works in Paris (France). A precursor of digital assembly artists, he invented the Hyperphoto concept in 2002 after much experimentation. In these large format photographs, he assembles thousands of pictures taken with a telephoto lens to compose different dreamlike worlds from real-world sites. His works are exhibited in France and abroad (New York, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Istanbul), and some are part of major contemporary art collections such as the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.