Micro-Event n°8 /Public Action

Ici tout est réel, organized by the review "Tribeca", Monoprix, Paris, 1998

I carried out this Micro-Event on Saturday 12 September 1998, between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. when there were a lot of shoppers. I went into the Monoprix grocery store with two plastic baby dolls in a stroller and I filled the shopping caddy with baby food and products. I simulated a Japanese mother. Certain spectators knew what was going on and were following my intervention and other people were simply clients. I tried to create a scene at the check out. I screamed that someone had supposedly stolen my wallet, my bankcard, my chequebook, etc. I appeared panic-stricken. A client behind me started yelling at me. The store manager was there. Contrary to my expectations, he just watched me without any reaction. I was desperate because there was no scandal.
This Micro-Event was influenced by Lars Von Trier’s film The Idiots (1998), which questions the limits between personal liberty and rules of society.