In Spectacle Of Error, Westover takes us on a journey through his adopted hometown of Paris and the desolate countryside of northern Europe. Drawing upon theorist Guy Debord's notions of the dérive, formulated in Paris half a century earlier, Westover has constructed a psychogeographical map of ephemeral landmarks on a journey without itinerary or destination.
In the 50's the Situationists attempted to disrupt perceived notions of geography and territory by 'drifting' through Paris allowing themselves to be infiltrated and led by the subtler, more notional characteristics and subliminal codes embedded within the urban environment, thus eschewing Authority-given cartographic references. Debord talks of a Situationist experiment in 1955, wandering through the German countryside with only a map of London to guide them.
Starting at a decidedly unglamorous entrance marker in the east of Paris, the photographs demonstrate an attempt to scratch away at the famously pristine Hausmannian veneer of Paris. Within the city itself, the photographs depict personal landmarks used in theconstruction of a subjective map for a navigation that operates independently to the prevailing patterns of circulation.
