Oli Gabe The Preservation Machine The Preservation Machine surrounds the Notre Dame and acts to restore and preserve it in contemporary society following the devastating fire. The machine concentrates and exploits tourist activity, using the profits generated to fund the preservation. By exploiting and accelerating tourist culture, the Machine becomes a dystopic vision of uncontrolled capitalism. The building hosts the system of tourism, it is designed to sell. Massive LED screens project adverts onto the tourists, the streets are lined with luxury shops, everything becomes a paid experience. This overload of information turns the tourists, the subjects, into passive receivers for information and advertisements. The Machine holds the power over the tourists, becoming an accelerated manifestation of the tourism industry. To preserve the identity of the Notre Dame in modern society, the Notre Dame is transformed into Viollet-le-duc’s ‘Ideal Cathedral’, preserving the wonder and majesty of the Gothic cathedral that has been lost in contemporary society. Almost like a virus, the machine methodically dismantles its surroundings in search for hidden Gothic stonework for the preservation of the Notre Dame. The lost buildings are replaced with new tourist attractions, simulations of what was once authentic Paris, designed as commercial opportunities to appeal to tourists. By 2100 the Ile de la Cite has been transformed into ‘Paristopia’, a dystopic playground for tourists. oligabe66@gmail.com
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