Agents de sécurité
Sarah Shamash
2008 - 32 min - Digital vidéo - France

Shot on location at the Jeu de Paume, the film shows this prestigious Parisian contemporary art centre through the eyes of the security guards. The security guards, almost all of immigrant descent, candidly discuss and philosophize about their job, art and politics. The underlying interrogation at the crux of the film is “what is the role of art in society?”
This question is magnified, on one hand, by the political context of contemporary Paris, with a rising tension between politicians and issues around immigration. Moreover, the film shows the security guards, physically inside the art institution, and although they reflect much of what is happening politically in Paris, they are completely exterior to the type of work represented in the museum.