Ciné-Tamaris and Social Animals have found part of the financing, but we need a bit more.

Are you in?

- AV: I know and love the gigantic photographs that JR puts on old walls, urban stairways and floors (ground ?). I've seen some in person, and I also have books with photographs of the large-scale installations showing the faces of unknown people, an old couple marked by the years, their eyes questioning us...

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Rafael Lorenzo y Obdulia Manzano, The Wrinkles of the City, La Havana

(artwork by JR, project by JR & José Parlá, Cuba, 2012)

© JR-ART.NET

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28 Millimètres - Women Are Heroes, Action in Kibera Slum, Train Passage 3, Kenya, 2009

© JR-ART.NET

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28 Millimètres - Women Are Heroes, Action in Favela Morro da Providência, Stairs, close-up, Rio de Janeiro, Brésil, 2008

© JR-ART.NET

- JR: I've seen Agnès Varda's documentaries where she gives a voice to those we rarely hear: gleaners, the poor, widows... She never misses an opportunity to point out life's amusing details. She's got an eye!! And I understand why her eye was drawn to my work, considering her interest in the murals of Los Angeles.

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The Gleaners and I, a documentary by Agnès Varda (2000)

© 2000 ciné-tamaris

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The Gleaners and I, a documentary by Agnès Varda (2000)

© 2000 ciné-tamaris

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Mural Murals, a documentary by Agnès Varda (1980)

© 1980 ciné-tamaris

- AV: This project came about by chance… Actually my daughter Rosalie played the go-between.

- JR: I invited Agnès to my studio, I had a surprise for her…

- AV: He had enlarged my self-portrait with a Bellini painting I took in Venice in 1960. He wanted to make another portrait of me with that image.

- JR: Yes, that was my idea and here's the result (I wasn't expecting her to thumb her nose!).

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JR taking Agnès' portrait with her self-portrait from 1960...

© rosalie varda

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Agnès Varda thumbing her nose at Agnès Varda posing with a Bellini painting

© JR-ART.NET

- JR: Mos Def dropped by that day. We all had lunch together. An explosive encounter!

- AV: Oh yes, it's always better to talk when you're eating something! Right off the bat I wanted us to figure out a plan so we could work together.

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Agnès Varda and JR

© Etienne Rougery-Herbaut

- JR : We were already raring to be on the go!

- AV : We met up in New York a short time later. He was presenting his short film Les Bosquets at the Tribeca Film Festival. That night there was a little fiesta at his place…

- JR: Bob de Niro dropped by and gave Agnès a big bear hug.

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Robert de Niro and Agnès in JR's New York studio

© JR-ART.NET

- JR : I also had Agnès pose on a Solex in front of the photobooth truck. The adventure continues…

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Agnès already on the go with JR's photobooth truck in New York

© JR-ART.NET

- AV : So that's the project. We're going to be truckers.

- JR: Yep! And when you're not driving, you can catch trucks like you did in The Gleaners!!

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JR's famous photobooth truck, shown here with the Carnac Stones

© JR-ART.NET

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Agnès catching trucks in The Gleaners and I

© 2000 ciné-tamaris

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She usually succeeds!!

© 2000 ciné-tamaris

- AV : We'll go to to the Luberon region in Provence for an adventure of encounters sparked by this wonderful truck.

- JR: She says we're going to the Luberon because her daughter Rosalie knows a place in Bonnieux…

- AV: …It's a family house, actually a hotel, that Rosalie has entrusted to the private club Le Silencio. They're turning it into a temporary hotel called La Maison de l’Aiguebrun and inviting artists to stay there. They will provide food and shelter for us during the shoot.

- JR: And we'll put some images up on their walls.

- AV: And we'll eat delicious food, I hope!!

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An olive tree in the Luberon...

© rosalie varda

- AV : I looked up the market days for certain villages, so we can be sure there will be lots of people, goat cheese makers, button vendors… etc!

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Button vendor at the market

© agnès varda

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Patricia M's goat cheese

© agnès varda

- AV : I've noticed that people with cell phones, "ay-phones" or otherwise, always want to take self-portraits, the recent and notorious "selfies"!

- JR: So while we're at it, we'll invite them into the truck, take their portraits and offer them enlargements of themselves. But the main thing we'll be doing is improvising art installations in the region.

- AV: I want to film the locals, the people of the region, their gestures, their houses, their children... and evoke their concerns.

- JR: I want to photograph Agnès while she's filming.

- AV: And I want to film JR while he's taking photographs!

- JR: You know, we're going to need a director of photography to film the whole enchilada... But I'll bring a little camera so I can film you too! You inspire me!

- AV: Or a DOP! I'm already looking forward to the editing. I think that may be my favorite part of the filmmaking process.

- JR: I'll come along for the editing too!

- AV: Of course, we're co-conspirators on this project. You've inspired me, with your truck full of images, images you give away, images that make it possible to connect with people.

- JR: That's because my truck is equipped to make giant enlargements.

- AV: As usual, you and your guys are going to put the giant photographs on old walls and other surfaces.

- JR: Yes, I love putting photos in impossible places, at unexpected heights…

- AV: You even stuck a 50-meter photo to the ground in New York, but we won't be able to do that!!

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Collage by JR on the streets of New-York: This photograph featured on the cover of The New York Times Magazine on April 26 2015

© JR-ART.NET

- JR : Don't worry, we'll come up with other ideas, that's what art is about, finding new challenges! We'll get all over all kinds of surfaces, large and small, smooth and bumpy! Nothing can stop us! And we'll do it with folks we meet down there!

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Project for a collage using a photograph by Agnès Varda

- AV : Right, but I want us to get permission from the property owners, the mayors... We'll play by the book.

- JR: You make me laugh!

- AV: Laugh away, Paillasse!

AV et JR deux artistes en goguette