ABSTRACT
Georges Brassens's voice guiding the visitor and the broadcast of a few excerpts from some of his songs inside the visitors' headphones compensate a little for the loss created by this artificial passage from sound to written mode. The device of headphones and the editing done by the designers has a certain effect on the Brassens persona: the singer is turned into a guide whose voice and songs go with the visitors as they walk round the museum. Museums are part of the heritage structures that elevate a social memory considered as a reference, but this does not mean exhibition designers can just ignore the individual and collective memory certain visitors carry inside them and which, can turn out to be persistent. If Brassens has become "one of the symbols of France, alongside perfumes, haute couture, and the great wines of Bordeaux", his case may not be radically different from that of other singers regarding the heritage process.
