christian boltanski: personnes / monumenta 2010

'personnes' exhibition view, monumenta 2010 grand palais, paris 13 january - 21 february 2010
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC

as part of monumenta 2010, french artist christian boltanski's work entitled 'personnes'
(literally both 'people' and 'nobodies') proposes reflections on the inescapability of death
and how chance watches over the destiny of each.

'art consists of asking questions, giving rise to emotion, without having any answers.' - C.B.

'personnes' exhibition view
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC


'personnes' exhibition view
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC

'personnes' transforms the entire nave of the grand palais through the creation of a
coherent, intensely moving installation conceived as a gigantic animated tableau.


'personnes' exhibition view
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC


close-up of 'personnes'
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC

'what principally interests me today is that the spectator is not placed before the work, but
that he goes inside it. in opposition to a classic museum exhibition, where the art goes by as we
watch it, the grand palais is a place encouraging an experience in which the spectator immerges
himself, since the entire space is part of the work. the sound, the ambiance, the way of walking
about it, including the trouble caused by certain places you need to go through, the materials
used, all these elements make up an artistic project that becomes an overall work. (...)
rather than an object of contemplation, this installation creates a space to be immersed in.
this work is like dante’s circles of hell, they completely surround the progression of the spectator
and mark him deeply, emotionally. but the reactions of the spectators, fear or anger, are an
integral part of the work's progression.' - C.B.


close-up of 'personnes'
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC

'personnes' is a one-off, ephemeral work.
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC

in accordance with the artist's wishes, the components of the piece will all be recycled at
the end of the exhibition.

artists anish kapoor and christian boltanski at the vernissage of monumenta 2010
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC

the entrance of the exhibition
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC


christian boltanski at the vernissage of monumenta 2010
photo didier plowy © monumenta / MCC

christian boltanski was born in paris at the end of world war II, his work is deeply affected
by the drama of the war and the shoah. after a childhood of barely any schooling and rooted
in the paradoxes of a familial milieu both jewish and christian, bourgeois and bohemian, he
began teaching himself to paint from the age of fourteen, before learning about contemporary
art on his own.


'archives du coeur' / teshima island
image by christian boltanski

christian boltanski project 'archives du coeur' is a collection of recorded human heartbeats.
in this ongoing project, which started in 2008, boltanski works like an archivist or ethnographer
collecting proof of the fragility of the human condition. visitors of monumenta 2010 are
invited to record their own heartbeat and offer it to the artist. if he so wishes, the visitor
may keep a recording burned on CD. the sound archive is to be preserved on the teshima
island in the seto sea, belonging to the benesse art site naoshima in japan - the island where
the hearts of all humankind are brought together.

monumenta is one of the major international events proposing that an artist take
possession of an architectural space to develop his vision of the world there,
articulated with his forms and figures, his vision of the world. in so doing, it is the
entire architecture of the building that the artwork draws into play with itself and with
which it dialogues. each year, a leading international contemporary artist is invited
by the french ministry of culture and communication to create an exceptional new work
for the 13,500 m2 nave of the grand palais, in the heart of paris. curator: catherine grenier.
german artist anselm kiefer showed in 2007 and american sculptor richard serra in 2008.

also, from 14 january to 28 march 2010, invited by MAC/VAL head curator alexia fabre,
christian boltanski will inaugurate 'après' (after). with 'personnes' and 'après', boltanski has
pulled off another exploit: plunging visitors, through two nevertheless disjointed and
independent stories, to the very depths of their most intimate obsessions.