The videotape L'Homme public, l'ordre du discours (la tribune) successively presents, in the same setting – the courtyard of the MAC de Marseille – a parody of the inauguration ceremony of this museum of contemporary art by Yves Lecoq, followed by the speech by the Minister of Culture, Jacques Toubon. Reading this work without recontextualising it within Philippe Parreno's oeuvre, would mean placing greater emphasis on Yves Lecoq's imitation (a mise en abyme of the speech and the caricature of the political personalities) than on its very presence on the videotape. The artist seeks to refresh perceptions and transform the spectator's behaviour with respect to the image and to political and televisual models, by recreating a protest, for instance (No More Reality II (La manifestation) 1991), a speech or a television show (Surface de réparation 2), by changing the rules of construction of the message, by having the scene played by children or by using imitation. The first shot shows children playing on the site of the inauguration. It is immediately followed by the sequence in which Yves Lecoq appears in a medium-wide shot, at the rostrum. Finally, the camera shows Jacques Toubon and an audience of adults. The reference to a group of children in the first part indicates the playful space the scene is set in and raises questions by contradicting the expected audience for this event. It weakens the political critique by eclipsing the politicised nature of the adult citizen and refocusing the scene on “real virtuality” [1]. This concept of Philippe Parreno's refers to a playful representation, in which the roles are changed in order to accentuate form and content and question their meaning. Although Jacques Toubon was the only speaker at the official inauguration, Yves Lecoq imitates several personalities: Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, Jacques Chirac and the Minister of Culture. All of these voices are part of the show broadcast on Canal +: Les guignols de l'info. The imitator intervenes as a representative from the world of television. Philippe Parreno, fascinated by Yves Lecoq, sees him as a symbol of television, owing to the great number of public personalities that he represents in his imitations. The parody of the inauguration took place before the official inauguration, and was more than just a pastiche, since the imitator cut the symbolic ribbon, which was later stuck back together, so that the official personality could cut it again as the protocol dictated. This reversal implies that television organises public life. Philippe Parreno's point of view is that of a television viewer on the one hand, and on the other, that of a director producing a reality effect, based on a fiction. The imitator has participated in three works by the artist, since the film La Nuit Des Héros (1994). Philippe Parreno's direct interventions relating to television are grouped under the title L'Homme public, l'ordre du discours (la tribune), also featuring a programme with Yves Lecoq. The goal was two-fold: to transform the televisual message and provoke a reaction from the public. The small screen generally seeks to retain the spectator's attention through commentary and music, and creates hierarchies on the set by separating the audience and the presenter, who bathes in the spotlight. Philippe Parreno transformed these rules by cutting the electrical supply to the microphone and speakers and directing the lighting onto the walls. The audience gathered around Yves Lecoq, who singlehandedly maintained a discussion full of mockery, relating to the animated cartoon Dragon Ball, imitating the voices of Jacques Chirac, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-Pierre Papin, Edouard Balladur and Bernard Tapie.

Thérèse Beyler

[1] “Philippe Parreno: Real Virtuality”, Art Press, Paris, issue 208, December 1995, p. 41.