“VAR
MATIN” NEWSPAPER AND MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, TOULON
JANUARY / JUNE 1988
Based
on 40 varied “missing person” announcements published
in a local daily newspaper over the course of a six-month period—reinforced
by tracts handed out in public places, posters, graffiti, and coverage
on radio and television—the artist creates a sense of suspense
around a fictitious character who has reportedly disappeared. The
public is invited to send the mysterious person letters, pictures,
and telephone messages; and all material is immediately put on display
in the city museum. At the end of this participatory action, which
demonstrates the media’s capacity to turn fiction into reality,
the character, played by an actress, makes her triumphant return
in an open-air motorcade.