Paris Dreaming consists of a dual projection of photographic slides and Super 8 film with a separate sound recording. The film, slides and sound document a series of drift walks through the Jardin des Plantes Menagerie and Parc Zoologique at Vincennes in Paris. The filmed encounters with the animals and birds in captivity focus on the relationship between the camera’s gaze and the uncomfortable position of the viewer. The soundtrack recorded in the menagerie and the courtyard at the Centre Culturel Irlandais juxtaposes birds and nature in the foreground with a Paris riot in the background. Desmond’s art practice questions contemporary human relationships to place and nature.

Notes by Experimental Film Club.