"When we face the works of artists frozen by time, what comes out of us is the inner respect of the creators of the art. We look forward to allowing more audiences to read the inner monologue created by art freedom at the Red Brick Art Museum. When you walk through their narrative, it's like walking in a labyrinth, but there is no ultimate goal, and there is a kind of poetry in their work. Yan Shijie, director of the Red Brick Art Museum, said at the press conference of the new exhibition "Free Images - Intimate Relationships".
Due to the epidemic situation, the opening tour and press conference of this exhibition were held online. Yan Shijie said frankly that the exhibition presented by the Red Brick Art Museum in cooperation with the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, from preparation to landing, the two sides jointly experienced a difficult, difficult and imaginative "intimate relationship" across time and space, and finally built a time and space tunnel of video art in the Red Brick Art Museum, "exploring how the audience perceives the intimate relationship composed of images and installation works in immersive space." ”
At a press conference, the exhibition's curators, Odile Burluraux and Jessica Castex, explored the theme of "intimacy" from different degrees. The word "intimacy," derived from the Latin word "intimacy," is the most intimate part of everyone's heart, including our thoughts, emotions, bodies, and all the relationships that make up our existence. But since the advent of reality shows and the web in the early 2000s, a whole new change is taking shape, and the concept of "what is intimacy" has changed dramatically, and we even share this intimacy with many strangers. When the inner world is completely exposed to the outsider's perspective, it can cause us anxiety, stress, and trauma. The exhibition "Free Image – Intimacy" attempts to capture this change, presenting various concepts of intimacy.
Angele Lecha "Sabadina" Image projection 1996 Color with sound 39 minutes Ange Leccia
The exhibition begins with a view to privacy rooted in the space of home and community, introduced by Ange Leccia's Sabatina, which opens the entrance to "intimacy" for us. The film is shot in a bathtub, with the floating face of a young girl watching us, forming an intimate portrait of the artist's daughter.
From everyday forms such as bathtubs, kitchens, pet cats and dogs, to the shared memories of ethnic communities and urban public spaces, to social media and a globally connected world under the influence of artificial intelligence, participating artists explore the imagination and boundaries of intimate relationships from all aspects. The successive appearances of portraits and self-portraits explore the picture of intimate relationships and the concept of self-extension. Intimacy is shared, made public, recorded as a script, and redefined.
Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno Zidane: Portraits of the 21st Century A film screened on two screens and a 35mm unedited HD film 2006 Color with sound 90 min. Anna Lina Film Productions/ Naflastrengir, 2006
Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno Zidane: Portraits of the 21st Century A film screened on two screens and a 35mm unedited HD film 2006 Color with sound 90 min. Anna Lina Film Productions/ Naflastrengir, 2006
The theme of the exhibition goes from shallow to deep with the depth of the scene, and we will gradually think about the pressure brought by the media and the privacy under this pressure as the works go. Reflections on this intimate space are best reflected in this exhibition in the video installation Zidane: un portrait du 21e siècle (Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle) by Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno. Zidane's game is filmed in shaky footage, interspersed with many inexplicable television footage and "stream-of-consciousness" footage. Questioned how one should protect oneself when one's life is fully unfolded before everyone's eyes under the development of media and technology.
Peter Fitzley and David Wise Cat Image Projection 2001 Color Silent 6 minutes 31 seconds Peter Fitzley and David Wise
As for the representation of the exhibition, curator Jessica Castex said: "As the title of this exhibition focuses on the concepts of 'dimension', 'extension', 'scale', reflecting the different forms and characteristics of contemporary video installations, in which architectural elements, sculptures, furniture, multi-screen and other media together construct an environment; these collections create a kind of symbol library, while generating narratives, enabling the audience to participate in it in an immersive way and fully interact." ”
Charlotte Moss "Lady with a Shell, Twice: The Storeroom" Digitally converted to 16mm film, image projection 2017 Black and white silent 8 minutes 30 seconds Image courtesy of Marcelle Alex Gallery in Paris Charlotte Moss
Curator Odile Burluy sees this exhibition across China and France as an opportunity to constantly renew herself, "The collaboration with the Red Brick Museum also allows us to raise new questions and challenges about these video collections of the Musée Des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and to rethink the themes represented by the collections, such as this time when artist Charlotte Moth reimagined her visual works with Chinese sculptures, and had a perfect dialogue with the space of the Red Brick Museum." ”
French Ambassador to China Laurent Bili
As an important project of the 16th "Sino-French Cultural Spring", the exhibition is hosted by the Red Brick Art Museum, co-organized by the Paris Municipal Museum Alliance, the Paris Museum of Modern Art, the French Embassy in China, and strongly supported by the French Cultural Center in Beijing. Laurent Bili, French Ambassador to China, said: "Thanks to innovative bilateral cooperation, I am pleased that one of the most prestigious museums in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, has been able to meet Chinese audiences at the Red Brick Art Museum in Beijing under the 'Sino-French Cultural Spring' event, and to take the audience into the unique and rich creative forms of contemporary video art." ”
The exhibition site of "Free Image - Intimate Relationship" at the Red Brick Art Museum
The exhibition site of "Free Image - Intimate Relationship" at the Red Brick Art Museum
The exhibition site of "Free Image - Intimate Relationship" at the Red Brick Art Museum
Since the establishment of the Video Department in the 1960s, the Musée Des Beaux-Arts des émptrogencés has played a pioneering role in promoting video art, and the exhibition has selected 16 works from the numerous video collections of the Musée Desés état des émpémonards de Paris, including many winners of the Venice Biennale.
Fabrice Hergott, director of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, stressed at the press conference: "The exchange of art and culture is very important in the exchanges between the two countries, for more than 20 years, we have maintained a very close relationship with Chinese artists and Chinese art works, and the participation of Chinese art is an extremely important part of our work, which will bring new and more important content and perspective to our understanding of contemporary art." ”
The exhibition runs until July 3.