Nicolas Gourault

Installation

his Means More juxtaposes statements by football supporters with the technical tools utilised to represent virtual crowds. The latter are usually used to create an image of an ideal crowd in adverts, or to manage crowd flows in space by anticipating the movements of the bodies.

As a counterpoint to these virtual images, supporters of Liverpool FC recount their experience marked by a tragic event: the Hillsborough stadium disaster which occurred in 1989, where 96 people were killed. The shockwave of the event triggered a deep change in stadium infrastructures. The seats that were then installed in popular ends where masses used to stand anticipated an upheaval in the profile of the crowd, as well as in the social role of football.

Simulation technology is transformed into an archaeological tool for exploring the supporters’ recollections. The juxtaposition of two forms of knowledge about crowds, one distant and analytical, the other based on physical experience, raises the question of what constitutes the self-expression of a community and evokes the way in which this living, fluid form collides with the infrastructure intended to contain it.

Nicolas Gourault

Nicolas Gourault is an artist and director trained at Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts de Paris-Cergy, but also at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. His work is marked by this twofold background and seeks to create connections between artistic technique and politics by providing a documentary critique of the new media. One of his interests is the way simulation can be used to transform modes of representation and to control spaces in order to limit unpredictability.

Production

Partner

Credits

Acknowledgments

Peter Marshall, Peter Carney, Richie Greaves, Damian Kavanagh, Peter Hooton, Ian Lewis, Golaem, Stéphane Donikian, Alexandre Pillon, Sogemap, Yorick Drapeau, Equip Event, Frédéric Lebreton, Montemeao, Fernando Cerqueira, Joao Ferreira, Mickaël Correia, Nicolas Hourcade et Floriane Pilon.