Outside and In‐Between: Representation and Spatial Production in Dominique Gonzalez‐Foerster’s Urban Imagery

Abstract

The photography and filmmaking of Dominique Gonzalez‐Foerster (b. 1965) depict derelict zones and dedicated spaces of social interaction in the built environment as intervals of stasis, anticipation, and vacancy. Questioning the physical cohesiveness of the postcolonial, globalized city, Gonzalez‐Foerster employs techniques of surveillance, social research, travelogue, and destination marketing. This article considers her representations of social space and subjective experience by examining her collection of films, Parc Central (2006), and book of photographs, Alphavilles? (2004). While the films often highlight monuments and landmarks as estranged, overdetermined places of expectation and transition, her photographs emphasize peripheral spaces as interchangeable signs in the visual lexicon of urban development. Drawing on the theories of D. W. Winnicott, Henri Lefebvre, and others, this article frames these choices as a negotiation of the limits of constructing representations of the urban experience in the face of the city’s growing homogenization and fragmentation across physical and virtual terrains.