Off Season
An Unforeseen Story
North of France's seaside resorts built after the Second World War for the purpose of entertaining tourists are abandoned by vacationers during the major part of the year. What happens to these places when visitors stay away from one day to the next? Are the abandoned landscapes and objects still there for the time of abandonment?
It seems like these vacation regions fall into a deep sleep waiting for the next summer. So if the concept of « territory » means a relationship between the people and specific space, what does it mean if this territory stops to be frequented and used?
During this waiting phase, only materials, shapes, colors and lights remain. A beach does not exist anymore, just a seaside and sand. A beach shower, just a metal tree in front of the sea. All the waste having disappeared along with the humans, bins are put on hold. “These landscapes and objects have been, are, and will be again”.
“If there is some strangeness in the exploration of new lands in search of memories, it comes from the possibility that we do not necessarily find what we were hoping for. Sometimes, one finds oneself in torpor, in the expectation of what will never ever be again.”
The photographer spent his childhood in the south of France seaside resorts. During the winter, south seaside resorts are still full of people thanks to the warm weather. Exploring familiar things on the other side of the country, in the north, is a strange feeling. How such a familiar thing could feel so strange.
“These landscapes and objects have been, are, and will be again.”
These cities architecture has been totally imagined for one main purpose, the summer activities. For example one of the cities Fabien Fourcaud explored is named « Stella Plage » and has star-shaped street blocks. Everything is made to bring you to the center of the city, in the center of the star where you'll find restaurants, tourists shops and finally the beach.
But during offseason, when you finally arrive in the center of the star the only thing you'll find is a dead end full of melancholy. You might still find people walking around, but they all look lost and with no idea where to go and what to do.
“Each encounter then becomes an event. A man explains to me that we must not keep in ourselves the evil we extract from the body of others. A woman invites me to meet her husband, a morbidly shy and suffering man who has killed King Henry IV in a previous life.”
