The Passenger
by Benoit Chailleux
portfolio shortlisted call 'Urbanautica Institute Awards 2023', 2023
Category: Representations of Space, Architecture, and Conflicts
This series, begun in 2009, is part of a body of work documenting non-places. The road is the non-place par excellence, a purely utilitarian place of transition. It's a linear space with almost only one dimension, measured only by the number of kilometers driven and those still to be covered. It is made up of a ribbon of asphalt that unrolls ad infinitum, punctuated by lines of white paint that are identical at every point, although the asphalt does widen out into regularly spaced zones known as rest areas. At the same time as space gains dimension, speed decreases and time seems to slow down. These areas meet the basic needs of users: refuelling, emptying passengers and vehicles. Purely functional, these places appeal to a universal imagination. The series explores the atmosphere that emanates from them.
also from Urbanautica Institute Awards 2023