Avenue of atrocities: modern phantasmagorias and the anti-modern

Among the materials for the 1935 Exposé of the Arcades Project: “Toppling of illusionism in the cityscape: perspectives”.1 Haussmann the demolition artist opened up nineteenth-century Paris. He created perspectives, new views in perspectives down long, straight and broad streets. These are perspectives, Frisby notes, that are “cleared for all except admirers, spectators and […] consumers”.2 Walter Benjamin recognises Haussmann’s true goal: “to secure the city against civil war. He wanted to make the erection of bar- ricades in the streets of Paris impossible for all time”.3 Perspectives against radical political change.