Purple Magazine
— Purple #43 S/S 2025
The Tokyo Diary Issue
ann lee in anzen zone
by DOMINIQUE GONZALEZ-FOERSTER
In 1999, Philippe Parreno and Pierre Huyghe bought the rights to a manga character named Ann Lee from a manga company, giving them the freedom to use it in stories, fiction, and art installations. Ann Lee is designed as an “empty shell,” a ghostlike figure that can take on different personalities depending on each artist’s interpretation. Ann Lee in Anzen Zone by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster is the third episode of the “No Ghost Just a Shell” project. In this video, she talks about her fate as a commercial product, accompanied by her English-speaking doppelgänger, and warns us of a dystopia brought about by technology:
“There will be no safety zone
You will disappear into your screen
I promise on the head of my clones and our own purple planet
Just like anyone born in a lab who feels, from inside the circuits…
They will invade your structures
They will separate you from your feelings
They will transform your emotions
There is nowhere to go.”
