Past Perfect
Past Perfect (Passé Composé) is an artwork created for the public space.
It proposes to its host city to adopt a fictional personality in its history: the character of Louise Duval.
The work is displayed in the city by the means of scattered commemorative plaques which mention this character and what she lived or realized in each place. The inhabitants of the commune are solicited to contribute to the artwork : they can offer to host a plaque on their facade and/or to write a sentence for a plaque within the framework of participative writing workshops.
The sentences proposed by the residents must be directly inspired by their own experiences or by those of people they know in the area, for example:
- Here, Louise Duval decided to change her path after years of doubt, she wanted to do a job that made more sense.
- In this house, Louise Duval cooked the best plum pie of her life.
- On this bridge, Louise Duval passed 9862 times.
- This house welcomed Louise Duval's mother upon her arrival from Algeria. Louise Duval spent her early years here.
The story of Louise Duval becomes a common work of the participating residents. Thus, it is no longer a simple imposture, but a kaleidoscope of different imaginations, sensitivities and personal local stories. Corollary and without incisive claims, her experience becomes by its nature the bearer of a greater history often reserved for oral transmission: a story about the reality of a woman (or women) of yesterday and today.
The work Passé Composé is part of the collection of the CNAP (Centre National des Arts Plastiques - France)
