Unfortunately, for all its spectacle, it doesn't add up to the kind of mystical experience the artist was doubtless hoping for—certainly not on the opening night on Monday, when the space was inundated with young Parisians whose camera phones disrupted the atmosphere with constant flashes of light and glowing screens.
While Boursier-Mougenot stresses the project's intention to create a space for reverie, it has darker implications. Water levels are rising as a result of global warming, with some scientists predicting that La Serenissima may be underwater in less than a century. St. Mark's Square used to flood around 20 times a year; now it's underwater three times as often.
If Boursier-Mougenot's piece seems laden with nostalgia for the lagoons of Venice, it may be that soon enough, memories are all we'll have left of the city.