At its heart is the story is a fictional character, Albert Sitzfleisch; an employee of the cultural section of the Council of Europe, who has spent his life travelling, and has just been made redundant. He is now travelling again with his severance money, writing a book on optimism, and also looking for work. The year is 2069.

The tragi-comic non-linear narrative takes us through his final months, starting in Kinsale, on the South coast of Ireland, where he has taken a sabbatical from his job to start writing his book, to his after-life as a ghost and an unwitting tour-guide of the ruins of the Place de Vosges a century later. The narrative is also broken by the insertion of tangential episodes – including the history of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s death mask and a damning TripAdvisor review of an Athenian restaurant.

In parallel with literary fiction, the work is a result of research, observation and invention. The imagery, both in the video work and the accompanying drawings and collages, also supports the narrative but digresses, to allow for multiple readings.

The exhibition La Place des Grands Abysses was first shown at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris from 18th September - 30th October 2020, and then travelled to Uilinn, West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Ireland in March 2021.

The complete video can be viewed here.