Harticulated

A meeting with Zöé de Rochambault, Vice President of SCOF, a Paris-based association that represents the interests of French contemporary artists in the world. In 1995, the SCOF was founded by an elite group of anonymous collectors who have since been known to be active lobbying the French government, mainly through the intermediary of legal counsel and union representatives.

“Mme de Rochambault, thank you very much for according this interview. Firstly, how are you today?”

“Yes. Sorry . . . what did you say?”

“ . . . So, I understand you are to be a leading light of the famous SCOF from the New Year. Many congratulations. What drove you to apply for this coveted membership?”

“Effectively, I will be SCOFfée in January 2008, when the administrative provisions provided are put in place by the authorities that are habilitated.”

“ . . . And why are you joining?”

“I am basically joining the SCOF because it will look great on my CV, which is not very important. Fin, not as important.”

“Not as important as what?”

“As my CV, bien sûr.”

“I see. And can you describe to me, what exactly does SCOF mean to you?”

“Eh ben oui, la SCOF. I thought you were talking about the SMOF, in the ‘93. You know this department? Seine St. Denis. Next year, I was counsellor there. Ah ben oui. You don’t know la SCOF? Ah bon.
Let me explain you. It’s the Société Civile des Orfèvres Franciliens.”

“And what is the rôle of the company, exactly? Apart from supporting goldsmiths . . . ?”

“She is not a company! She is an association. The difference is very important, vous le savez. An association cannot make benefits. The social reason of the association is the President of the Association. And the President want to protecting the contemporary art in France,and for to defend the French contemporary artists. It is very important.”

“And who is the President of the SCOF?”

“Ah ben oui . . . Mais non, non, non. You cannot know the President of the SCOF. You are not adherent to SCOF. Do you say adherent? In France we say membre.

The President of the SCOF select the member personally base on the initial bulletin of inscriptions form. If you are select, you can be member of these organization.

The form is very important as must be completely full because he want to make sure you are the good member, and there is no conflict of the work, for example, if they are gallerist, they cannot make an inscription.”

“And what is the rôle of the SCOF, in a few words?”

“The SCOF attribute the leading price to only one artist per years than the others, and the artist has to expose himself at the Pompidou Center every years.”

“A price, you mean they evaluate artwork . . . ?”

“Non. Non, non, non. The Jury decide the leading price and award the artist with.”

“Aha, you mean the prize . . . ?”

“Of course. ‘Ze pricccce. And we go to all the art fairs in all of Europe, especially FIAC, the most important global art international fair, in Paris. We make very important initiatives and working very hard for the contemporary art in France, because the American and English artists is known in the world, but the French artists is not very known, and no one want to know them, and no one want to buy their work.”

“So you can’t tell me the name of the President of this organization?”

“Non. The organization is completely anonymous. No member knows the name of every others else member. Individual members are not important. The Association is have a lot of weight, and is very important, because everyone knows there are some very important members, in the whole Association. Big collectionneurs, you know. Some of them are very big and everyone know they are too big, so we cannot know their name! And we cannot know the name of the others member, because the work of SCOF is completely anonymous.”

“So if you don’t know who the other members are, how do you work together?”

“The President decide all of the initiative who the Association will takes. One member stand up at the AG last week, that is, the Assemblée Générale, and ask to the President, pardon Monsieur, but for to send a Christmas card to the all others member.

And the President say, non, it is completely interdit, he will do by himself it, and the member should give to him the Christmas card in question, for the approbation before, and he will do. And zen ‘e his go to the hairport. And the SCOF make many projects, like working together with the STIF (Société des Transports d’Ile de France), the CRAP (Compagnie Redondante des Artisans Parisiens), the TUCH (Tarificateur Urticaire des Comptes Hôteliers), and the SNIF (Syndicat National des Incompétents Fonctionnaires). Just to mention a few. But there are many.

But we are not paid for this. Do not forget the SMUC (Salariés Mutualistes Urbains-Campagnards), and the most important, you know, the ANOUS (Association Nationale des Organismes Unifiés Solidaires). Ah ben oui, oui, oui.”

“And what is your work in this illustrious group?”

“I do not have a work. I have a job to win the money, and I do not have time to make this kind of activity. I have only 39 paid overtime days per hours and 30 paid holiday for the years, plus the bank's holiday. The government is normally there to support these kinds of social action. In France we pay a big tax for this, not like in America. In France we have a good social system and healthcare, while in America persons cannot see a doctor when they get hill. We pay for the social system, so we are in security. It’s La France.”