----------------------------------- --HOME ----------------------------------- --Programming --Fonds documentaire --International exhibition --Publications --Educational services --Archives home exhibition > Space of making > ISABELLE HAYEUR Isabelle Hayeur   The transformation of the city is at the heart of Isabelle Hayeur’s project. Rather than observing urban issues from a local point of view, however, Hayeur inquires into the effects of globalization on the shape of the city. Her most recent diptych, Nuit américaine (2004), re-creates a derelict gas station, a vacant and abandoned space that appears strange because it is surrounded by luxury buildings under construction. Or is it the seeming ordinariness of the images that makes the place seem so curious? Prompted by the narrative that these images seem to contain, we search their surface for the traces of a story or anecdote whose thread we can follow. We quickly realize that the images present no thrilling narrative, despite the fact that they encourage us to wait for something. Instead, different impressions follow one another, impressions that we might say are produced by the indistinct lighting. The title refers, moreover, to a lighting technique that makes it possible to shoot outdoors in daylight and, with the use of filters, to make it appear as if it were night. This union of day and night, reproduced here through computer-generated modification of the contrast between the images, explains in part the strange atmosphere that this deserted place creates. It is a space that speaks to us of time. Created out of places with different origins, it shows metaphorically the synchronic transformations taking place in most major North American cities at a time of economic growth. In this sense, a city’s mutations are part of a larger narrative, in which the global economy also shapes daily life.     Isabelle Hayeur, Nuit américaine (Ritz Plaza et Liquidation), 2004, diptych, digital prints, 164 x 110 cm each. Courtesy of the artist.