In English, ‘close’ can mean many things. ‘A close’ (a dead-end alley), ‘to get close’ (to get intimate, near), ‘the close’ (the end). The video and sound installation The Close by Belgian multidisciplinary artist David Claerbout serves as a multi-perspective inspiration for the theme of this exhibition. As Claerbout’s work is an investigation of the influences of technology on the photographic and filmic image over the past century, it serves as a metaphor that inspires this exhibition’s focus on how technological developments have affected the artistic depiction of the human figure, an extension of how we see ourselves as humans with respect to these advancements.
In Claerbout’s video installation, he takes a 1920’s black and white image of a close, a narrow passage leading to a tenement, specifically noted for separating the poor and keeping them out of sight. In his treatment of this image with 3D technology and its accompanying music, he gives an otherwise silenced and forgotten boy attention and a voice. But as much as the title The Close pertains to both place and filmic action, we know that this image is not real, so perhaps also the end, or the close, of an era when we could trust what we perceive from a photographic image.
This compression of time between past, present and uncertain future creates the narrative of the exhibition. In it is the ever-present tension that technology injects into the human experience. On the one hand, advancements have been a gift of possibilities and solutions, while on the other, they might be seen as threats to humanity itself. Through these reactions ranging from optimism to doubt, this exhibition aims to offer a pragmatic approach that embraces innovation with caution while protecting traditions and knowledge in a search for balance between these two seemingly contradictory positions.
Artists:
Martha Atienza
Ed Atkins
Ernst Barlach
Felix Beaudry
Christopher Bucklow
Tom Burr
Edward Burtynsky
Seba Calfuqueo
David Claerbout
Thomas Demand
Tishan Hsu
Alfredo Jaar
Claire Kerr
Käthe Kollwitz
Alicja Kwade
Nicolás Lamas
Oliver Laric
Joep van Lieshout (AVL)
Robert Mapplethorpe
Martin Margiela
McCallum & Tarry
Juan Muñoz
Max Neumann
Berenice Olmedo
Noemi Pérez
Andrés Quintero
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
JA Suárez-Londoño
Wolfgang Tillmans
Franz Erhard Walther