MONUMENTA 2010 – Christian Boltanski

Christian Boltanski, Personnes, Installation view at MONUMENTA 2010, Grand Palais, Paris. Photo Didier Plowy. All right reserved MONUMENTA 2010.

Grand Palais - Paris

My death waits like a bible truth at a funeral of my youth

Weep loud for that and a passing time…

Jacques Brel

(Extract from  MY DEATH )

By Lara Pan

Monumenta 2010, curated by Catherine Grenier, showcases one of the most important artists on the French and international scenes. It is tempting to call Monsieur Christian Boltanski, the Jacques Brel of contemporary art.

A site-specific visual and sound installation entitled Personne (No one) occupies the vast space in the great hall of the Grand Palais. The moment one walks into the hall, one is instantly obliged to deal with images of unknown memories that are trying to evict the passing of time. There lies an existing connection between a person and the objects on view. This creates an intriguing struggle between life and death, which manages to create a space of intense sensitivity for the viewer, making him/her feel quite insecure. As a narrative, Boltanski connotes a multitude of themes, questions and emotions throughout the exhibition. He compares this piece to one of the circles in Dante’s Inferno. The omnipresent sound of a heartbeat, as a symbol of life, creates a moment of limbo in our subconscious. With Personne (No one) Boltanski has created a “young work” using old items.

A significant aspect of Boltanski’s work revolves around autobiography, particularly in the preservation of his childhood memories. Like an eternal child, he does not stop asking  himself and others questions. His work poses questions about life and about our understanding of who we are .

He wants ordinary people to see themselves in his mirror and to learn something about themselves. Trying to evoke fundamental questions through his art, he likes to say that, “Art represents a lie that unveils a truth -not a personal truth, but an exemplary general truth. It isn’t the truth of  ’me’ but of ‘us’ essential truth.” (Boltanski and Grenier 238)

This exhibition is revealing and frustrating in equal parts, asking questions with a humble compassion, seeking answers we shall never know.

(January 13 - February 21, 2010)

Works Cited

Boltanski, Christian and Catherine Grenier. The Possible life of Christian Boltanski. MFA Publications, 2009. 238.

Lara Pan is an independent curator and art critic who lives between Brussels and Paris.

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