Mettre en scène le passé. Ethnographie de l’instrumentation de l’œuvre d’art dans les politiques de la mémoire

Abstract

Part of a long-term research on the genesis of « memory » as a category of State intervention, this article takes the concept of « staging the past » literally to analyze the social mechanisms which lead to the use of artistic works in so-called « memory » policies. Why such a mobilization of artistic works but also of the artist? What do the State and its administration expect of such a use and what status do they give to these works? The choice to focus on memory policies through their use of art and artists enable to consider differently the issue of the relationship between standards, propaganda and « memory » policies. If, up to now, several studies have looked into the relationship between art and memory, they most often take the art productions as a given to analyze their symbolic meaning in a post-modern perspective. Here the angle is quite different. The sources on which relied this article consist mainly of field notes collected as participant observer. They enable to put the focus upstream of the artistic act to understand the social mechanisms that govern the use of art works by the public administration.

Keywords

• Art
• Ethnographic Observation
• Memory
• Political Science
• State