Like sacred texts, these kakemonos unroll their scripts in an aesthetic, monumental form. They emphasis the relationship of size between themselves and the reader, who finds herself in a realm of giants. These long, unfurled writings, which fold in on themselves and seem to be endless, place words at the centre of the room and pose questions about each and every one of them.

At heights ranging to beyond 15 metres, Gaudriault’s calligraphic installations combine Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Western writing. Bubbles of thought, they create a passageway that allows us to wander through and among them. These installations have been presented at the Shanghai Mansion Art Centre, the Monaco National Oceanographic Museum, and the Collégiale in Chartres.

From an academic point of view, books are the medium best adapted to reading. They invite silence and concentration. Books cannot be read at one sitting, but they can be browsed through. On stands in the form of birds on the wing, they are an invitation to contemplation.

While hand-written script is associated with the work of calligraphy, it focuses on its rawest aspects. It is bereft of aestheticism. It involves a use of chalk and summons up memories of childhood. Things appear on walls which are not committed to paper. Language takes another form here.