National Centre for Meteorological Research, Grenoble, France Possibly 1989 - 2006

Lewis Baltz made this photograph, National Centre for Meteorological Research, Grenoble, France, sometime before he died in 2014. It's cool, almost cold, and very rational. I think the artwork wants to make sense of all the data in the world! I wonder what Baltz was thinking when he made this? Was he impressed by the technology or overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information? I suppose his thinking was in line with that of the New Topographics photographers that were interested in realism. There's a strong focus on form and composition. The receding lines and repetition of forms create a sense of depth and order. Yet, somehow the image feels impersonal, objective. Like a record, cool and distant, of this weird, very specific place. Baltz's photograph reminds us that technology isn't just about progress. It can also be about control, surveillance, and the potential for dehumanization. Heavy themes! But the image is also interesting for its strange beauty, its geometry. Art's like that - never just one thing.