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3D printing and 11 drawings
200 x 100 x 8 cm
Installation View: Venice Biennale, Italy
Inspired by the ingenious destruction of the Vendôme Column — dismantled during the Paris Commune of 1871 as a symbolic rejection of imperial power — The Anti-Clock Project takes the form of a model representing the planned demolition of the infamous “Mongela”, also known as the November 7 Clock Tower, in the center of Tunis. The work stages a symbolic dismantling of authoritarian architecture, exposing the way monuments embody political power. By imagining their erasure, it reopens the debate on how history should be inscribed in the urban landscape.
One of the eleven graphite drawings, which complements the 3D-printed cartographic installation, reveals the detailed demolition plan devised by engineer Jules Iribe during the Commune. To prevent damage to the surrounding buildings of Vendôme Square, Iribe designed a system involving a triple rope fixed to the top of the column, connected to a capstan anchored in the ground. Observed through an astronomical telescope, the coordinated efforts of several men tightened the ropes, sawed the column just above its pedestal, and allowed it to collapse onto a bed of fascines. This meticulous reconstruction, reactivated within the project, highlights not only the act of destruction itself but also the precision and collective care invested in dismantling a symbol of power.
Joachim Ben Yakoub. Re-animating the Monumental Spirit of Solidarity of the Paris Commune From Tunis to Réunion Island.
In the Funambulist, Issue 34:The Paris Commune and the World