Visible until February 28, 2025 on all floors of Mont-Blanc Center, Simon Edelstein’s photographs speak of the disappearance of old cinemas around the world by capturing the sleeping splendor of this architectural heritage.

The photographic work carried out since the 2000s by Simon Edelstein on the disappearance of old cinemas has been shown and published in various prestigious exhibition and publications. This long-term work began with a trigger, when the Genevan photographer and director felt, in front of the ruins of these old cinema palaces in the United States, that a universe was disappearing. Thus, like an archaeologist, he begins to patrol the distant neighborhoods of many cities, from the USA to India, from Morocco to Cuba, to capture the contrasts between grandeur and oblivion, between the golden age of dark rooms and their (sometimes almost comical) reassignments. This world tour of abandoned cinemas captures majestic facades which are decomposing in general indifference but, beyond a simple nostalgic impulse, it awakens awareness of this architectural heritage.

This exhibition constitutes a first chapter, inaugurated on all floors of the Mont-Blanc Center and visible until February 28, 2025. The Plaza Foundation promises to highlight this remarkable photographic work with further exhibitions for a total of four different seasons.

Biography of Simon Edelstein

Simon Edelstein is a Swiss director born March 26, 1942 in Geneva, where he lives. He is a photographer, Chief Cameraman and director. Trained at the Vevey school, he produced photography books and collaborated for the magazines Lui and Vogue before joining the television set of TSR (Radio Television Switzerland) as a cameraman in 1966. He signed more than a hundred broadcasts (as “Spécial Cinéma”, “Passe-moi les jumelles”, “Viva”, “Temps Présent”) and worked as Chief Cameraman for Michel Soutter (La Pomme in 1969; James ou pas in 1970; Les Arpenteurs in 1972, in official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, and L’Escapade, in 1974). From 1973, he directed several feature-length fiction films, starting with “Les Vilaines Manière”s. At this time, French critics supported French-speaking Swiss cinema and the rise of “New Swiss Cinema”, where Edelstein’s name rubbed shoulders with that of other directors such as Claude Goretta or Alain Tanner.

Curator: Jean-Pierre Greff

Production coordinator: Antoine Siron
Photographic prints: Olivier Oberson – Photorotation