Paris Friday 17
I have been working on a site specific installation with a video performance element which can be interactively participated in by an audience for the last 1 ½ year.
Getting permissions to film in a specific place has proved a real headache and extremely time consuming in admin.
When I was at Cite Internationale des Arts last year the director called several times on my behalf and was told that in practice the administration was positive about the project but could I sent the proposal again which I did five times both in English and French, I never had an answer.
So today decided to do something drastic about getting the permission and took the train out of Paris to the town and landed on the administration unannounced.
This is of cause a desperate measure I would not recommend to anyone especially not in France, however, this must have been my lucky day as after having been passed from one non English speaking person to an other with as much grasp of English as I have of French to a third that decided that her English was better than my French and she eventually called the organiser and made an appointment for me in the afternoon.
I arrived for the appointment and a very nice man said, but yes he remembered my proposal from last year but I must understand that they had had a lot of problems at the time and seemingly though that I might be an other person that could cast the place in a wrong light.
So I watched as he went though lots of files to find my proposal, which I was surprised that they had kept, I was also surprised that he knew my name as I at no time had been asked or offered it.
After an hour of explaining that it was not my intention with my performance to cast a derogatory light on the place and that that in no way could it be misinterpreted he smiled and said I had his permission but now I had to apply to the ministerie service departemental de l’architecture.
He must have seen the desperation spread over my face, so found the address and gave me a name of a contact person, he also told me what to write and that I could mention that he had given permission and finished of with that this person did not speak or read English.
However, I know a person at my embassy here in Paris that may help with the translation.
On the way back to Paris on the top floor of the double-decker train I started to think about the practicalities such as people that had to be engaged, costs, making a solid budget and if the French department gives the OK then the biggest hurdle of all will be getting funding from the Arts Council.
