Christian Boltanski: Dead or Alive?

  • United Kingdom
  • 1994
  • en
  • [cc]
  • 43'

In his studio, in his car, Gérald Fox follows the elusive Boltanski who, in his installations, makes use of portraits, newspaper clippings, magazines, family albums. The photographic approach, endlessly recomposed, proceeds by juxtaposition and accumulation. Each shot, framed in black, is lit by visible bulbs, the mass effect restoring the individual: walls of votive images that question the memory, our dark side, the inevitable passage of time, the traces left behind. Between autofiction and reality, Boltanski: artist or maker (of beauty)?

Christian Boltanski: Dead or Alive?
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Synopsis

In his studio, in his car, Gérald Fox follows the elusive Boltanski who, in his installations, makes use of portraits, newspaper clippings, magazines, family albums. The photographic approach, endlessly recomposed, proceeds by juxtaposition and accumulation. Each shot, framed in black, is lit by visible bulbs, the mass effect restoring the individual: walls of votive images that question the memory, our dark side, the inevitable passage of time, the traces left behind. Between autofiction and reality, Boltanski: artist or maker (of beauty)?

What you will find in this film

A photographer who does not photograph • From micro to macro • The art of recycling images Black and white and lights The importance of shadows A serial art  • An autodidact who doubts himself • The art of provoking reflection • The insignifiant signifier • The importance of memory • The omnipresence of death • Universal, contemporary themes • Danses macabres • From the group to the individual • From the artist to the human • Multiple choice questions • Photographic installations • Sculptural installations • A major figure in contemporary art 

The victims of today can become the criminals of tomorrow.

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Further exploration

Bibliography

Materiel used

CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI – FAIRE SON TEMPS – exhibition catalogue in French and English; directed by: Bernard Blistène; Éditions du Centre Pompidou; 2019

• CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI, RÉCITS - authors: Christian Boltanski and Laure Adler; Flammarion; 2021

LA VIE POSSIBLE DE CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI - authors: Christian Boltanski and Catherine Grenier; Fictions & Cie (Seuil); 2010

• BOLTANSKI: SOULS FROM PLACE TO PLACE - author: Danilo Eccher; Silvanaeditoriale; 2018

• BOLTANSKI. TIME

 - author: Ralf Beil; Hatje Kantz Publishers; 2007

Magazines, metal, cardboard, wood, fabric, candles, bulbs...