"Personnes" and "Après" by Christian Boltanski
Text and image: Kay Roberts
Today, 27th January, is the Holocaust Memorial Day and Christian Boltanski's work often draws on the memories of the disappeared. At the Grand Palais we are faced by both the physical and immaterial memories of Personnes - human beings: anybody or nobody. Entering the vast space of the Grand Palais a wall of rusty metal boxes piled high, 4 meters high, 20 meters long, it blocks the way. Each box labeled. Reminding me of the sad walls in cemeteries where the ashes or bones of the dead are placed, but these boxes are not labeled with a name, they belong to the anonymous many. Boltanski has chosen the coldest time of the year for Personnes, no heating, cold daylight in the winter chill.
Beyond the horizontal clothes field is an enormous mountain of clothes, tons of clothes, reaching up into the sky. A red crane descends to the peak, grabs what it can, reaches up to the heavens and then lets go of the few clothes in it's grip, they tumble down to the pile, then it does it again, and again. Christian Boltanski states that "the crane is like the hand of God, that the piece is a killing factory... we don't know who will be killed or not killed". The chance element of the grab is rather underplayed but the floating path of the clothes as they descend seems almost in slow motion; sleeves reach out, frantically clawing the air. Boltanski says the installation is about life, chance and destiny. And so, although the Holocaust is unspoken, it is there in our collective unconscious. For each coat was worn, has its own memory, warmed the wearer, was close to a body. There is a person for each piece of clothing carefully spread out on the floor. An absence that can be felt. Heard in a heartbeat.
The second thread of this work dwells on the 'after': the subject of death itself 'where pain has been alleviated: Après is a labyrinthine journey haunted by the question of memory. This is at Musée d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne - Mac/Val - where in a darkened gallery monumental blocks covered in black plastic rustle with a soft wind. The only steady light coming from the 'hands' and 'heads' of curious puppet-like figures made of wooden slats and dressed in black coats. These are Boltanski's 'Death Angels', 'not meant to be frightening but rather comforting'. Placed here and there' these life-sized figures whisper as you pass. "Have you lost love? Are you aware (of the consequences)? How did you die? Did you suffer?" On the end wall, lit by a pulsating light, many, many metal plaques, again no names, no text. The projected photograph of a mass of people at the entrance and exit, projected on to a fringe curtain so it moves with the air from within, a fragile image, elusive. However the labyrinth is not a work that lives up to the artist's poetic description. It is a concept that can be and will be shown in other places, perhaps in a more enclosed environment the figures will envelope the 'passer by' more, installations do depend so much on the overall feeling of place. However Boltanski did want Après to be a parallel experience to Personnes and these two views of death - before and after - connect with our own memories and relate to the stark fact we all have an unknown future.
There is a special event at Mac/Val which may help with the understanding of Boltanski's work. On Sunday 7 February 4pm 'An Afternoon with Christian Boltanski' the artist will discuss his work with the curator Alexia Fabre. On Sunday February 11 from 3.30pm 'Symphony: for Forsaken Musicians' by David Chazam will be performed in the labyrinth.
Grand Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill
75008 PARIS
Open Monday and Wednesday from 10am to 7pm and Thursday to Sunday 10am to 10pm
Closed on Tuesday
Place de la Libération
94400 Vitry-sur-Seine
Open from Tuesday to Friday, from noon to 7pm
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