Combining references to history and popular culture, Léo Fourdrinier’s installation is inspired by Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology, which describes a world haunted by traces of the past. This piece, which takes its title from Gala’s clubbing anthem Freed From Desire, feels like a spectacle where human foibles are put on display. Facing the terraces, which call to mind ancient-world theatres, a sculpture composed of an upturned motorbike and a winged man weds the cult of speed with the myth of Icarus, son of the architect Daedalus, who died after flying too close to the sun. The work thus interrogates the power of catharsis in our contemporary age, inviting spectators to experience the purging of their passions.

Franny Tachon