EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE

The Grand Palais was built for the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. It was a period of optimism and rapid technological change that was transforming everyday life. Then the world collapsed. The three images in this series seek to revive this era and bring it into the present, when technology is again effecting profound change on society, though not always for the better, and much of the optimism has gone. For this, I built an almost one-to-one 3D model of the Grand Palais, down to the individual bolts on the great steel buttresses. The entire scene exists virtually in 3D, allowing me to navigate it as any photographer would the actual building. The 3D render was treated digitally to resemble a wet-plate print, completing the technological full-circle. I worked on this piece for about six months.