This politics of the visible consist of several layers of decision-making: what to render visible, what to leave invisible and, most importantly, how to make that which is kept invisible in today's utterly homogenised social order (politics, injustice, segregation, racism, sexism, xenophobia) visible. The theorist Edward Said, amongst others, has pointed out that the visible routinely appears as a calm surface. The process of substitution necessary for representation can act to transform the Other into a silent, speechless and still One; into One's absence.

Bojana Pejic 1993

The most profound aspect of Gerz' public projects, is their ability to incite participation and co-authorship to create something for a specific urban site. Through his interventions, Gerz creates strategies that re-engage the notion of citizenship and social responsibility as inseparable from the individual being.

James M. Clark 1995

Unity of place: The square in front of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, located in the centre of the Île de la Cité, not far from the ancient "court of Miracles". Unity of time: Celebration, in the year 2000, of a Judeo-Christian culture, which has shaped the identity of the European continent. Everything is staged to introduce the actor in the play: the poor person, who is at the heart of both the "Book of Job" and the "Beatitudes" - that same person who is justifying this intervention by the German artist Jochen Gerz. He, like the Spaniard Calderon offers if not a piece of “civic theatre” at least a symbolic act worthy of the great movements in population at the end of a millenary marked by the globalization of exchanges. Let's not forget that many European cities were founded, if not on begging, at least on the value of the gift and of exchange between the haves and the have-nots. Therefore today, Jochen Gerz is rediscovering "The Words of Paris", that gesture fundamental to any social commitment whether it be secular or mystical.

Paul Virilio 2000

Unité de lieu : Le parvis de la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, au centre de l'île de la Cité, non loin de l'ancienne "cour des Miracles". Unité de temps : Le jubilé de l'an 2000 d'une culture judéo-chrétienne qui a façonné l'identité du continent européen. Tout est en place pour introduire l'acteur du drame : le pauvre, celui qui est au coeur aussi bien du "Livre de Job" que du "Discours des Béatitudes" - celui qui justifie l'intervention de Jochen Gerz, puisqu'à l'exemple de l'espagnol Calderon, notre artiste allemand nous propose sinon une pièce de "théâtre civique", du moins un acte symbolique à la hauteur des grands mouvements de population de cette fin d'un millénaire marqué par la mondialisation des échanges. Souvenons-nous en effet, que nombre de villes d'Europe ont été fondées sinon sur la "mendicité", du moins sur la valeur du don et de l'échange entre les nantis et les démunis. Jochen Gerz retrouve donc aujourd'hui avec "Les Mots de Paris", ce geste fondateur de toute socialité aussi bien laïque que mystique.

Paul Virilio 2000

Money and art, art and charity and then charity and money makes a really grey area; a Bermuda triangle of smudged reasoning and ambiguous role-play. Strictly speaking charity and art should not be mentioned in the same breath. The implication that one is dependent on the other, and vice versa, breaks a precariously constructed taboo. Although it is understood that art plays an important role, the exact nature of that role shifts and slides with political and economic change.

Sacha Craddock 2002

Dans Les Mots de Paris, rien ne se veut plus furtif, les personnes, les paroles, l’argent, tout s’échange et tout se montre, très simplement. Cette œuvre expose, c’est une exposition : sans abri ou avec, toute personne qui entre dans le champ de l’œuvre est exposée — c’est une exposition de la rencontre des gens.

Gerard Wacjman 2002

Jochen Gerz’ s most radical project to date is also one of those that has required the most effort on his part. Weeks if not months and an incredible amount of personal energy are required to create and maintain what Pfütze calls the durable framework for the invisible social stage on which all are welcome.

Volker Rattemeyer and Renate Petzinger 2011