Between 1978 and 1981, Sophie Calle clandestinely explored the Hôtel du Palais
d'Orsay, which was then disused. She chose room 501 as her anchor point and,
without any pre-established method, has been photographing abandoned places for five years.
During her forays, she collects objects: room numbers, files
customers, messages addressed to a certain "Oddo"...
40 years later, room 501 has disappeared: an elevator has taken its place. On
the invitation of Donatien Grau, curator at the Musée d'Orsay, Sophie Calle
returns to explore the places during the suspended time of confinement. She
here tracks down the ghosts of the Palais d'Orsay with archaeologist Jean-Paul Demoule,
who here delivers two interpretations of this archive, one scientific and
the other, imaginary.
