The Collective Folie work, the first tower designed by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata in Paris, dreamed up for the Parc de la Villette, has evolved throughout many workshops attended by high school and university students, volunteers and Kawamata.

The tower dialogues with Bernard Tschumi’s Folies and took shape as impromptu accumulations and arrangements emerged through working and brainstorming with Tadashi Kawamata. The load-bearing structure was gradually clothed with pieces of recycled wood.

This DVD-book contains the film by Gilles Coudert and an edition showing the construction and deconstruction process in Tadashi Kawamata’s collaborative project. The film tells the story of this adventure through the words of the various participants and reactions from the workshop members who contributed to this “collective folly”. The texts by art critic Emmanuelle Lequeux analyze and discuss the stakes involved in such a proposal. Echoing this installation in Paris, the book also provides perspective on ten other tower projects Kawamata has built throughout the world.