Avis de recherche : Julia Margaret Cameron 3

MUSÉE DES BEAUX-ARTS TOULON - JANVIER / JUIN 1988
Collaboration : Jean-Noël Lazlo pour l’organisation et le suivi sur place

Concept

For the first time, a contemporary artist has conceived a work that consists of creating and fleshing out a character in a quasi-novelistic way, by gradually bringing him or her to life in a major provincial daily newspaper. This character is brought into contact with readers in an interactive exchange and, finally, emerges as an event in the social reality of the street. The repetitive force of the medium ends up giving existence and consistency to the character who can be written to, phoned, sent a photo of, and who you might even see one day outside your window!

All the exchanges that materialise are exhibited in the Museum as they arrive. This action allows the artist, who writes the wanted notices in different forms each time, to break with journalistic codes and introduce a political, poetic and critical dimension to the medium. A dimension of distancing designed to draw the audience into a world that is both real and imaginary.v

Device

• Var-Matin, forty wanted ads published between 1 January and 1 June 1988
• Fr 3 regions, TV
• France 2, TV
• Radio Nostalgie
• 2 telephone lines equipped with automatic answering machines
• 2 television programmes: FR3 and Antenne 2
• 5 000 "Avis de recherche" leaflets
• 200 posters
• Radio broadcasts on France-Inter, France-Culture and Radio-Vitamine
• 1 1933 Ford Cabriolet
• 20 plastic mannequins dressed by Galeries Lafayette
• A Renault Estafette
• A professional actress
• A team of ten students from the École des Beaux-Arts de Toulon for the graffiti and spray-painting.
  Research by Margaret Cameron

2007 Recherche de Julia Margaret Cameron

La recherche de Julia Margaret Cameron est pour Fred Forest une création participative unique pour l'art contemporain impliquant toute la région du Var. C'est la première fois à notre connaissance qu'un artiste prend comme champ effectif d'expérimentation sociologique un espace aussi vaste. Pour ce faire il utilise simultanément le flyer, le graffiti, le téléphone, l'annonce de presse (presse écrite, radio, téléphone, minitel). Le projet a été proposé au Musée de Toulon et il a impliqué le quotidien Var Matin qui a publié tous les jours durant deux mois un avis de recherche de ce personnage imaginaire, invitant les gens de la région (femmes et hommes), s'ils estimaient lui ressembler, à envoyer un photomaton accompagné d'un bref message expliquant selon eux à quoi tenait la ressemblance.

Vite relayée par France 3 et France 2 selon les méthodes d'activation de l'artiste, cette initiative a connu un grand succès participatif. Jean-Noël Laszlo un artiste contemporain habitant Toulon, familier du terrain en tant qu'assistant expérimenté, a contribué grandement à la pleine réussite de cette action. Participation également d'une équipe d'étudiants de l'École des Beaux-Arts motivés par l'artiste pour tracer des gra

For Fred Forest, Julia Margaret Cameron's research is a uniquely participatory creation in contemporary art, involving the entire Var region. To our knowledge, this is the first time that an artist has taken such a vast area as an effective field for sociological experimentation. He uses flyers, graffiti, the telephone and press announcements (written press, radio, telephone, minitel) all at the same time. The project was proposed to the Toulon Museum and involved the daily newspaper Var Matin, which published a notice every day for two months inviting local people (men and women) to send in a photo booth if they thought they resembled him, along with a brief message explaining why they thought they resembled him.

Quickly relayed by France 3 and France 2 using the artist's activation methods, this initiative was a great success. Jean-Noël Laszlo, a contemporary artist living in Toulon, who is familiar with the field as an experienced assistant, made a major contribution to the success of this initiative. A team of students from the École des Beaux-Arts also took part, motivated by the artist to draw graffiti based on his research on all the city's walls, and many thanks to Gisèle Kozak, an actress friend, who put her talent at the artist's service to play the role of Julia.

ffitis de sa recherche sur tous les murs de la ville, et vifs remerciements à Gisèle Kozak, une amie comédienne, qui a mis son talent au service de l'artiste pour jouer le rôle de Julia.

• Les quarante publications de Var-Matin de janvier à juin 1988
• " Les dessous de Julia ", Var-Matin, 5 mai 1988
• " Avis de recherche ", Marie-Laure Lions, Art-Thèmes, avril/mai 1988
• " Fête comme chez vous ", France 2 T.V., 13 mai 1988
• " Il se passe de drôles de choses à Toulon ", FR3, T.V., 28 février 1988
• " Julia Margaret Cameron ", France-Inter
• " L'oreille en coin ", 17 avril 1988
• " Recherche de Julia Margaret Cameron ", un ouvrage édité par Z éditions, avec des textes de Bernard Teyssèdre, Jacques Lepage, Jean-Noël Laszlo, Jean-Roger Soubiran, Fred Forest