As part of the 12×12 Festival organised by the cultural centre “le 100” and the Town Hall of the 12th arrondissement, the Umcebo Gallery presents the exhibition “President Hotel” by photographer Laurent Weyl.
The President Hotel in Saigon, Vietnam, is a city within a city.
This imposing building, built for the US Army in the 1970s, was for many years the largest and most modern building in Saigon where it housed up to 2,500 people. A witness to the history of Vietnam over the last fifty years, this decaying architectural shell will soon be replaced by modern towers, turning a page in history. Laurent Weyl plays with the strata of time and navigates memories: we brush against the dilapidated walls, the signs of a past life are still floating…
Biography
Born in Strasbourg in 1971, Laurent Weyl has chosen to focus his work on social and environmental documentaries. He is as interested in investigating difficult human situations such as the urban misery of megacities or climate refugees as he is in more socio-ethnological subjects, particularly in Vietnam where he lived for four years.
Regularly exhibited and screened in photography festivals (Visa, Arles, Vannes, …), he collaborates with the French and international press (Figaro Magazine, Geo Voyage, Geo France, Geo Germany, Flair Italy, 6 MOIS, El Pais…) and publishes four books with the Argos collective, of which he has been a member since 2001. In 2016, he published his first personal book on Vietnam: President Hotel.