The fine line separating true from false grows indistinct. The deeper links between reality and fiction are exposed in broad daylight. One never has one entirely without the other. Biographers know this. So do artists. Since the beginning of his career Christian Boltanski has questioned the share of fiction that plays in each story, whether it be collective or individual. First his, in combining tokens originating in his past with others which do not, mingled with relics from others' pasts, leaving each visitor to reinvent entire lives for the anonymous faces.

How does fiction draw on reality? What permits the artist to reinvent the story to better reveal what it is about? From the great narratives to simple storytelling, we know the share fiction has had throughout history, that which precedes us and that which takes form every day. With Christian Boltanski, the share of fiction takes on theatricality, forcing the visitor to confront his certitudes.

Read on:  Making one's history