Ambroise Tézenas evokes places marked by tragedy that now have their own guided tours. This phenomenon, known as ‘dark tourism’, is rooted in our fascination with the human capacity for evil, as well as our desire to see the aftermath of horror. Earthquakes, tsunamis, devastated or poverty‐stricken areas are ‘destinations’ whose discovery feeds the ambiguous curiosity of a growing number of enthusiasts. Addressing the questions raised by this new reality, Ambroise Tézenas undertook a long investigation from the oradour‐sur‐Glane massacre of 1944 to the ruins left by the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, china, Ambroise Tézenas travels through the 20th century by way of Cambodia, Rwanda, Ukraine, and Lebanon. ‘Here, we are gawking at a nightmare’, he sums it up.
Publications: I Was here, Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2014 ; Tourisme de la désolation, Actes Sud, 2014.
Exhibition venue: Grande Halle, Parc des Ateliers.