Christian Boltanski: Dead or Alive is an television program on The South Bank Show based on the life of a contemporary artist Christian Boltanski^[1] a French sculptor, photographer, painter, and filmmaker.^[2] Directed and produced by Gerald Fox in 1994, presented by Melvyn Bragg and readings by Marianne Borgo and Olivier Pierre.^[2][3]

Plot

The television program shows Boltanski working, looking for materials, lecturing at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, attending exhibitions, and an interview with Melvyn Bragg.^[3]

Cast

• Melvyn Bragg – Presenter
• Christian Boltanski – Self

Production

Boltanski gained recognition for installations based on display of old photographs and found objects. He is filmed working on large projects like Dispersion, a vast installation of discarded clothing alluding to the Holocaust,^[4] a presence in much of his work owing to his Jewish roots,^[5] and the effects of the Holocaust on society in post-war France and also his shadow puppet theatres.^[2] This film conveys the complexity of the relationship between individual experience and milestones in history.^[6] Works featured in the documentary: ‘Shadows’ (1985); ‘Sans Souci’ (1991); ‘The Reserves’ (1993); ‘The Dead Swiss’; ‘The Art of the Venice Biennale 1938’ (1993); ‘Comical Skits’ (1974).^[3] In his studio, and in his car around Paris director Gerald Fox follows the elusive Boltanski who, in his installations, makes use of different materials. The photographic approach, endlessly recomposed, proceeds by juxtaposition and accumulation.^[2] 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.^[7]

References