PDOA - Public Display of Affection (2001)

Inspired by the notion of non-places and soap operas, Graux examines various forms of public display of affection in an constructed urban environment. The scenes switch between staged and real-life situations where people meet, make love and read books in the midst of endless supermarket shelves. Graux shows us a fictive society in which people actually meet and connect. Contemporary reality lives on indoors where the artist confronts us with two people who became strangers to one another and themselves. Individuals move from one space (supermarket, park, apartment, car, escalator) to another, they 'wade' in a hyper-romantic reality until the reality of these areas are redefining themselves. The daily space becomes a 'non-space', disconnected from its historical identity.