It could all have started with the recognition that time passes, and that as it passes we, our experiences and points of reference change. The passing of time has been evident from the changes going on around us, and it is only from here, from outside, in other words, that we have been able to perceive the changes in ourselves. We have felt something of the movement and duration of time, where we made a pause, where we took a look, marked a point in time from which our gaze could move forward. And from here, one day, something of that time that has passed with us became perceptible. The changes in things lay hidden in it and the reversal of values. So what would it mean to become aware of this?

Ulrich Krempel 1988

An example of this kind of democratization in art is his work Le Vote de Barbirey (2004), for which he invited the people in the French village of Barbirey each year to name their park after a person of their choice, someone who impressed them either by their deeds or something that happened to them.

Alexander Klar 2011

Les habitants, les visiteurs, les étudiants, les passants sont autant d’intervenants dans les œuvres de Jochen Gerz ; ils sont amenés à les investir par leur signature, leur contribution à la construction ou leurs paroles. En quoi cette co-présence à l’œuvre dans la création signe-t-elle un rapport singulier à ces productions ? De fait, la « position de contribution et d’expérimentation » du public, objet du travail d’Emmanuelle Lambert notamment dans l’institution muséale, est sans doute l’élément singulier dans le processus d’échange et de transmission du message porté par l’œuvre : la mémoire n’étant pas détenue par un monument mais par ceux qui le côtoient et décident de l’investir.

Dominique Trouche 2014