Christian Boltanski, a leading figure in the international arts scene, will represent France
at the 54th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with a unique and
spectacular installation called “Chance”, which deals with one of those themes dear to the
artist: chance, luck and misfortune, forces that fascinate and impose their law. The artist has
selected the honorary director of the Georges Pompidou National Modern Art Museum,
Jean-Martin Hubert, as curator.
Placed under the curatorship of Bice Curiger, Swiss art critic and historian, the 54th
International Art Exhibition has chosen “ILLUMinations” as the theme for this edition. The
Biennale is one of the most important forums for highlighting and disseminating current
developments in the sphere of international art.
The French Institute is responsible for the general curatorship of the French Pavilion at the
Venice Biennale in co-production with the National Centre for the Fine Arts (Centre
National des arts plastiques / CNAP) and in collaboration with the Directorate General of
Artistic Creation (Ministry of Culture and Communications) and with the exclusive
patronage of Citroën. This project is the result of a commission on behalf of the French
Ministry of Culture and Communication and the work will become part of the National Centre
for the Fine Artsʼ collection after the Venice Biennale.
The theme of the French Pavilion
At the recent Monumenta exhibition called Personnes, an exhibition that was later installed
and exposed at The Park Avenue Armory in New York and the Hangar Bicocca in Milan,
Christian Boltanski demonstrated his ability to deal with universal themes, while at the same
time ensuring that everyone is free to interpret his work in their own way. The artist has again
chosen “Chance” as his theme for Venice. In a mobile and unstable environment, this theme is
developed in a more playful and interactive way by allowing the public to play and to win with
the artist.
Resolutely independent of particular movements and schools of thought, Christian Boltanski
deals with existential questions on a spectacular level, merging fact and fiction, in an artform
that he himself refers to as classical, not in terms of its form but in terms of the themes it deals
with, such as “Chance, Godʼs Law and Death”. Reflecting on the passage of time, Chance is
one of the links in the chain of memory, in what can be referred to as “little” or “individual”
memory, that which defines the fragile uniqueness of each person, and which form part of the
immense collective work The Archives of the Heart (Les Archives du Coeur). Since 2005,
Christian Boltanski has been collecting recordings of heartbeats from all over the world, in
order to attempt the impossible: to collect “the heartbeat of everyone in the world”. A truly
universal project, the recordings will be preserved on the Japanese island of Teshima on the
Seto Inland Sea, thanks to the support of a sponsor and is open to the public. In this spirit of
allegorical and utopian works, Christian Boltanski "sold his life” (i.e. a continuous video
recording of his work and activities in his studio) to a collector in Tasmania. This lifetime
annuity was granted in an attempt to create yet another permanent installation, in what the
artist refers to as "his deal with the devil".
The work presented at Venice is optimistic in its reflection on chance and destiny; the
chance of birth against the chance of death. Is everything pre-determined? Who
controls destiny? Has our path already been decided? Is God present or absent?
At the entrance to the pavilion, the visitor is invited to sit on one of the wooden chairs. A voice
whispers to him. Each chair “speaks” in a different language uttering the words “Is this the last
time?” Is this a message of hope? Or a troubling announcement?...
The interior of the pavilion is criss-crossed by a moving walkway, that travels at great speed
and upon which hundreds of photos of childrenʼs faces have been printed. The walkway stops
randomly and one of the childrenʼs faces is lit up and an alarm sounds. Chance has picked out
one child. The process begins all over again, until the walkway stops again and the alarm
signals Chanceʼs next choice.
In each of the two side rooms, a clock with luminous numbers counts up the worldʼs
population. The panel on the left records, in real-time, the number of births and the panel on
the right, the number of deaths. Every evening at midnight, they provide the figures of the day.
The number of births is always higher than the number of deaths! Every day witnesses the
victory of life over death. In the third room, there is a large mural work consisting of a huge
video screen on which various images of different segments of human faces are projected. By
pressing on a button, the visitor can pause the images. The faces are made up of three
random sections creating strange even monstrous faces, the fruit of a wild imagination. If the
visitor is lucky, the three sections of the face match and he wins the image shown.
Throughout the duration of the Biennale, a version of this work will be available on
www.boltanski-chance.com. Lucky winners will receive a surprise sent personally by the artist.
Christian Boltanski
Born in Paris in 1944, Christian Boltanski practices painting until the end of the 1960s. The
artist plays with autobiographical codes and recreates objects and situations from his
childhood. From 1970 to 1973, he creates Reference Display Cases (Vitrines de references)
by subverting museographic codes: made or found objects are exhibited as evidence of a
banal life of which only some traces, at times even absurd ones, remain. In 1972, The Album
of Family D. (Lʼalbum de la famille D.) is presented at Documenta in Kassel and launches the
artistʼs international career. After Comic Sketches (Saynètes comiques / 1974), where the
artist reveals himself in scenes from his childhood in a clown-like manner, he returns to a
distant and impersonal viewpoint in Model Images (Images modèles) which he creates
according to the guidelines of “accepted” or “classical” photography. He is one of the principal
founders of “art photography” and his work on “average taste” anticipates developments in
post-conceptual art. From 1984 with series such as Shadows (Ombres), Monuments
(Monuments), Reliquaries (Reliquaires) and Reserves (Réserves), his work takes on a darker
tone. The materials from his early works are re-used in dramatic installations that are haunted
by the idea of death. The questioning of existence becomes a prominent theme in his work, as
illustrated by the work presented at Documenta 8 in Kassel in 1987. In 1988, clothing
becomes a key material in the artistʼs work; a ghostly mark of the individual. Cataloguing and
filing, and later an obsession with lists, characterize the artistʼs work from the 1990s,
reminding us that within a group or a mass, the individual is what is important. From 1990 to
2000, Christian Boltanski becomes interested in performance, which extends and enriches his
fine art work. At the same time, his exhibitions become more narrative and staged, creating a
global work based around a single theme: Time, Memory, the Human Being, Death… He now
favours projects with a humanistic content that fall within the register of the fable.
In this spirit of allegorical and utopian works, Christian Boltanski has been collecting
recordings of heartbeats from all around the world since 2005 as part of his project destined
for the Japanese island of Teshima, entitled The Archives of the Heart (Les Archives du
coeur). In Tasmania, another permanent utopian installation was recently created: the artist
sold his life in an annuity to a collector (video recording of his work and activities in his studio).
In 2010, the unique visual and sound installation Monumenta / Personnes was created
especially for the Grand Palais in Paris. In this work, the artist continues his reflection on the
limits of humanity and the importance of memory, on destiny and the inevitability of death.
Personnes was later installed at The Park Avenue Armory in New York and in the Hangar
Bicocca in Milan.
Jean-Hubert Martin
Jean-Martin Hubert has played a key role in some of the worldʼs most important museums. He
has worked as director of the Bern Kunsthalle, the Centre Pompidou National Modern Art
Museum and The National Museum of African and Oceanic Arts. He was the director of the
Museum Kunst Palast in Dusseldorf before deciding to devote himself to the conception and
curatorship of exhibitions. From the famous Magicians of the Earth (Magiciens de la terre) in
1989 which played an important role in altering perceptions of 20th century art to the
successful Against Exclusion (Contre lʼexclusion) as part of the 2009 Moscow Biennale, Jean-
Hubert Martin has continued to occupy a key position in the international art scene. He has
regularly exhibited Christian Boltanski in his exhibitions, for example, in The Magicians of the
Earth and the more recent Breaking News (Ultime Notizie) in Milan in 2004.
Les Opérateurs du Pavillon français
LʼInstitut français assure le commissariat général du Pavillon français de la Biennale
de Venise en co-production avec le Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) et en
collaboration avec la Direction générale de la création artistique (ministère de la
Culture et de la Communication) et avec le mécénat exclusif de Citroën. Ce projet fait
lʼobjet dʼune Commande publique du ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
et, à ce titre lʼoeuvre présentée rejoindra les collections du Centre national des arts
plastiques.
L'Institut français est lʼagence du ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes pour
lʼaction culturelle extérieure de la France. LʼInstitut français oeuvre en faveur des arts visuels
et de l'architecture, tant en direction des artistes et créateurs vivant et travaillant en France
que sur le continent africain et dans la région caribéenne. Il est lʼopérateur du Pavillon français
de la Biennale de Venise et coproducteur de certaines grandes Biennales, notamment en
Afrique. Il accompagne des étapes internationales dʼexpositions dans le cadre de la diffusion
des collections publiques ou dans celui de la programmation des musées ou partenaires
étrangers, il soutient la présence dʼartistes français dans les foires internationales et favorise
le repérage des scènes artistiques par les professionnels étrangers. www.institutfrancais.com
Le Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) est lʼun des principaux opérateurs de la
politique du ministère de la Culture et de la Communication dans le domaine des arts visuels.
Acteur culturel et économique, il encourage la scène artistique dans toute sa diversité et
accompagne les artistes ainsi que les professionnels par plusieurs dispositifs dʼaides et
dʼallocations. Il acquiert, pour le compte de lʼEtat, des oeuvres dʼart inscrites sur les
inventaires du fonds national dʼart contemporain, donc il assure la garde, la gestion et la
diffusion en France et à lʼétranger. Il met en oeuvre la commande publique nationale et
favorise lʼaccès de tous les publics à lʼart contemporain. www.cnap.fr
La Direction générale de la création artistique (ministère de la Culture et de la
Communication) définit, coordonne et évalue la politique de lʼÉtat relative aux arts du
spectacle vivant et aux arts plastiques et détermine les conditions de sa mise en oeuvre. Elle
soutient la création artistique dans tous ses domaines dʼexpression, favorise la diffusion des
oeuvres et lʼaccès du plus grand nombre aux productions artistiques. Parmi ses missions, elle
a reçu celle de coordonner des manifestations dʼampleur nationale et internationale vouées à
la valorisation de la scène artistique française. Cʼest dans ce cadre que sʼinscrit, aux côtés de
grandes manifestations nationales comme MONUMENTA et LA TRIENNALE, le soutien
quʼelle apporte à la mise en oeuvre du Pavillon français.
Mécène exclusif du Pavillon français à la Biennale de Venise, CITROËN occupe une place à
part dans la création automobile. Née en 1919 au pied de la Tour Eiffel, la marque n’a jamais
dévié de son héritage : l’audace et le sens de l’innovation. Elle a marqué l’histoire avec des
modèles surprenants : la Traction Avant, la 2CV, la DS. Des modèles devenus
mythiques, créés par un sculpteur, Flaminio Bertoni. Avec la DS, à laquelle Roland Barthes a
consacré un passage de son essai Mythologies, CITROËN a reçu en 1957 le prix d’honneur à
la Triennale de Milan. Un mythe qu’elle fait aujourd’hui revivre avec le lancement de sa ligne
distinctive DS. Nourrie par l’expression artistique, sous toutes ses formes, CITROËN est une
source d’inspiration pour les créateurs : la Traction avant, traction après (1990) d’Arman, la
DS (1993) de Gabriel Orozco, ou les Compressions de Citroën réalisées par César pour la
Biennale de Venise 1995. En avril 2011, le designer Ora-ïto présentera à Milan ses projets
artistiques, inspirés eux aussi par l’héritage CITROËN. Symbolisée par la signature
CRÉATIVE TECHNOLOGIE, l’ambition de CITROËN est bien de repousser les limites de
l’expérience automobile.
Autres informations
Monographie Christian Boltanski :
À lʼoccasion de lʼexposition « CHANCE », les éditions Flammarion, le Centre national des arts
plastiques (CNAP) et lʼInstitut français, rééditent la monographie consacrée à Christian
Boltanski, avec quarante pages supplémentaires dont un texte de Jean-Hubert Martin qui
éclaire lʼinstallation à Venise, et lʼessai de Catherine Grenier qui sera enrichi dʼun chapitre sur
« Monumenta »… Lʼouvrage sera disponible en juin pour lʼinauguration du Pavillon français.
À propos de la Biennale de Venise et du Pavillon français :
Les journées professionnelles ont lieu les 1, 2 et 3 juin 2011. La Biennale de Venise est
ouverte au public du 4 juin au 27 novembre 2011. La France a remporté le Lion dʼor pour la
meilleure représentation nationale en 1986 avec Daniel Buren, en 1997 avec Fabrice Hyber et
en 2005 avec Annette Messager. Pierre Huyghe a reçu un Prix spécial en 2001.
Liste des membres du comité dʼexperts associés, en 2010, au choix de lʼartiste invité
pour le Pavillon français de la Biennale de Venise :
Alexia Fabre, Directrice du MACVAL, Musée dʼart contemporain du Val-de-Marne ; Joëlle
Pijaudier Cabot, Directrice des Musées de Strasbourg ; Bernard Marcadé, Critique d'art et
commissaire d'expositions indépendant ; Béatrice Parent, Conservateur, Fondation Louis
Vuitton pour la Création.
Production exécutive :
La production exécutive des oeuvres de Christian Boltanski pour le Pavillon français a été
confiée à lʼAgence Eva Albarran, sous la direction du Centre national des arts plastiques et de
lʼInstitut français.