Christian Boltanski
[Artist, b. 1944, Paris, lives in Paris.]
In my first little book,
Tout ce qui reste de mon enfance of 1969, there is a photograph that supplies the apparent proof that I went on vacation to the seashore with my parents, but it is an unidentifiable photograph of a child and a group of adults on the beach. One can also see the bed I slept in when I was five years old; naturally, the caption orients the spectator, but the documents are purposely false.
I believe that the choice of new forms is simple a means for expressing oneself better at a given moment. New art forms lose their originality very quickly, which is why we have to be continually seeking new ones. Black-and-white photography was an interesting form a few years ago, but you can’t use it any more because it has become too recognizable.
(1975)
