Neon Traces by Anton Ginzburg. Photo by Maxime Dufour
The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago! Lille, a city in the North of France is celebrating this anniversary with a 4 month long festival called Lille3000 and is honoring the culture of Eastern Europe and Istanbul. The festival goes on through July 12th, 2009.
Exhibitions, live shows, site specific installations allow visitors to immerse themselves in the exploration of the lively culture of Eastern Europe.
One of the highlights of the festival is a public sculpture by a Russian born artist Anton Ginzburg. Installed on the facade of La Voix du Nord newspaper headquarters it consists of an assemblage of neon signs.
Each sign is in the language of a particular Eastern European country. They announce goods sold by non-existant shops: Quality Goods in Czech, Gloves in Hungarian, Press in Serbian, Fish and Meat in Russian.
Hovering like ghosts over the square in Lille, they take us back to the moment in history when neon signs changed the urban landscape of Europe signaling the arrival of modernism shortly before Europe was split into East and West.
“These signs,” Ginzburg says, “reveal the ‘poetics of the everyday’ from the last millennium and portray neon traces of collective memories.”
Unveiling of Neon Traces at Lille3000. Photo by Maxime Dufour
