L’ascenseur occupe la 501

L’ascenseur occupe la 501 – Between 1978 and 1981, Sophie Calle clandestinely explored the Palais d’Orsay hotel, which was then abandoned. She chose room 501 as her anchor point and, without any pre-established method, photographed the premises that had been abandoned for five years. During her incursions, she collects objects: room numbers, client files, messages addressed to a certain “Oddo”…

40 years later, room 501 has disappeared: an elevator has taken its place. At the invitation of Donatien Grau, curator at the Musée d’Orsay, Sophie Calle returns to explore the place during the suspended time of confinement. Here she tracks down the ghosts of the Palais d’Orsay with the archaeologist Jean-Paul Demoule, who offers two interpretations of this archive, one scientific and the other imaginary.