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		Jean-Louis Boissier Second Promenade A Hypermedia Installation 4 December 1998 - 7 February 1999 Created at Le Fresnoy, studio national des arts contemporains Synopsis The "Second Promenade" is a central feature of the Rêveries du promeneur solitaire, by the 18th Century writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and parallels the episode about the flora of Saint Pierre island, (on which Jean-Louis Boissier based Flora petrinsularis, the moment when Rousseau declares that he will no longer write, and simultaneously, launches into writing the Confessions). "Second Promenade" is the text where Rousseau announces the fundamental reasons for writing the Rêveries. The installation, based on the hypermedia medium (images, sound, interactive text on the computer), draws explicitly on the text of the "Second Promenade", but also refers to the entire literary and philosophical work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the substantial research which has been carried out on it. The installation is, in a way, an "essay" dedicated to Rousseau, and in particular, to the autobiographical aspects of his work. The aesthetic potentials specific to interactivity are at the heart of this experimental creation which should contribute to the emergence of a specific language in this medium, in its articulation with both literary and cinematographic traditions. Argument The angle from which the reader-spectator enters in relationship with this work is one of interactivity. Jean-Louis Boissier feels it could be the equivalent of the relationship with the world that we see in Rousseau’s work. From sensitive, linguistic and logical points of view, the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau may indeed be understood as a consciousness of being, with a relationship with things, beings and events, constantly the object of a dual observation of oneself. The "Second Promenade" is the moment of a second birth. Whilst he was spending the afternoon walking in an autumnal landscape around the hills of Menilmontant, gathering plants, he was knocked over by a dog. He came slowly round This first sensation was a delicious moment... I was entering life at this very moment, and it seemed as if I was filling my superficial existence with all the objects I could see around me. At that moment, I remembered nothing; I had no clear idea of myself, nor the slightest idea of what had just happened ,~ I did not know who I was, or where I was; I did not feel bad, afraid or worried. I felt my blood flow as I would have seen a river flow, without realising that this blood belonged to me in any way. I felt in my whole being a supreme calm, to which, each time I think of it, I can find no known pleasures comparable. Jean-Louis Boissier, The Second Promenade The installation plays on the capacity of digital objects to be "guided" by a reader and, simultaneously, to obey the logic specific to the programming. Therefore, it is possible to produce a "reverie" which would imply images, sound and texts miticulously produced in their references to Rousseau, and simultaneously, incorporate the attitude of the reader-spectator. Attached to the key moment of the accident, one will see oneself nevertheless transported towards other moments, other places, other events, other characters. Biography Jean-Louis Boissier Born in Loriol-sur-Drôme, France in 1945. Between 1962 and 1969, he studies mathematics and physics in Grenoble and Lyon, and led a ciné-club, worked as a theatre photographer, graphic designer, stage set designer, made experimental films. From 1969, he participated in the founding of the art department of University Paris 8 at Vincennes, under Frank Popper with whom he worked for the exhibition Cinétisme, spectacle, environnement at the Maison de Ia culture in Grenoble in 1968. In 1979, he passed his post-graduate thesis in aesthetics at Université Paris 8 on The question of the heritage of contemporary China in contemporary art ". He organised, between 1973 and 1989, artist exchanges between France and China and several exhibitions on Chinese art. In 1983, he assisted Frank Popper on the exhibition Electra, l‘électricité et l’éctronique dans l’art au XXe siécle, at the Musée d’art moderne de Ia Ville de Paris. In 1984-1985, he participated at the Centre Georges Pompidou in the preparation of the exhibition Les lmmatériaux, under Jean-Francois Lyotard. From 1986 to 1991, he participated as editor and art director on the review La Recherche photographique. From 1988 to 1992 set up exhibitions dealing with new image technology, interactivité and virtuality, for the Cité des sciences et de l‘industrie. Simultaneously, he began collaborating with the Centre Georges Pompidou for the exhibition Passages de l’image in 1990, then for the creation of the Revue virtuelle for which he is one of the curators. In 1990, in the context of the cooperation between the City of Saint-Denisand the Université Paris 8, he founded the Artifices biennial, of which he is the director. He is currently a lecturer in art, researcher, head of the Laboratoire d‘esthétique de l’interactivité at Université Paris 8. His doctorare in 1994 was based on " Eléments d‘une esthétique de Ia saisie ". (Elements of the aesthetic of data). He looked at the question of artistic experiments which has undertaken since the eighties around interactive installations, videodisques and CD-ROM. Since the beginning of the 80’s, his research on artistic forms linked to interactivity have led to his recognition internationally as an experts in this field. He was the curator of several exhibiions, has participated in many exhibitions, conferences, and has been invited to present his work in museums, art centres, festivals and biennials. email: Axel Wirths, Kurator

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