MUSEUM
OF FINE ARTS, TOULON, FRANCE
21 DECEMBER 1988 – 30 APRIL 1989
ASSISTED
BY JEAN-NOËL LASZLO
Commissioned
for the museum’s centennial, this work brings to life of the
most famous paintings in its collection: Jean-Louis David’s
1822 double portrait of sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte
Bonaparte. The project begins with the publication of a reproduction
of the painting—altered through the insertion of two blank
comic-strip-like dialog bubbles—in the local newspaper. Readers
are asked to imagine the conversation the two young women are having
and to send their contributions in to the museum where they will
be displayed alongside the original. The members of the public are
also given the opportunity to leave the sisters messages via voice
mail and the Minitel telematic network, or to talk to them in person
on the occasion of one of their periodic arm-in-arm outings in the
streets of the city.