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Christian Boltanski’s monumental installation Personnes opens today in the immense, drafty nave of the Grand Palais. Boltanski’s installation follows Anselm Kiefer and Richard Serra as part of the Monumenta programme.

Part flea market, part memento mori, piles of old clothes are lined up to form a grid across the cold floor. These are dwarfed by a huge mound of clothes, over which a mechanical claw hovers. The claw picks up and releases garments at regular intervals – not unlike the cuddly toy machine at the arcade, which never quite manages to keep hold of the toy. The installation is enveloped in muffled booming sounds – the chorus of 400 hearts beating. The soundtrack is part of an ongoing project, Archives du Coeur (“Heart Archives”), and visitors are invited to record their own heartbeats as a donation to the artist.

Boltanski is man of the moment this week, with another show Après opening at Mac/Val tomorrow. It has also been reported that he will represent France in the 2011 Venice Biennale.

Monumenta 2010 is on in the nave of the Grand Palais until 21/02/10

Après is on at Mac/Val from 15/01/10 until 28/03/10

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