loader

DAVID CLAERBOUT -
Espace Louis Vuitton - Munich

"ERZÄHL MIR DAS ENDE"
SELECTED WORKS FROM THE COLLECTION

The era of photography is over, and we are seeing a return of what Jean Baudrillard called 3D information, namely images that are augmented by narratives or statistics. While media dissolve into one another we are witnessing a return to the primacy of the word. Photography’s time as originating from light is over. (David Claerbout)

 

The Espace Louis Vuitton München honours Belgian artist David Claerbout with a new exhibition, Erzähl mir das Ende, produced in the framework of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s “Hors-les-murs” program. This program showcases previously unseen works from the Collection at the Espaces Louis Vuitton in Tokyo, Munich, Venice and Beijing, thus carrying out the Fondation’s intent to realize international projects and make them accessible to a broader public.

 

Born in 1969 in Kortrijk, Belgium, David Claerbout was originally schooled as a painter and draughtsman at the Nationaal Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, followed by the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunst in Amsterdam. Since then, he has moved into creating works that are a unique mixture of photography, film and painting. Claerbout uses digital tools to alter photographs by moving shadows, adding walls or changing the positions of objects or figures. His projections, often depicting a single moment from multiple perspectives, give motion to motionless images: making the leaves move in an old photograph of a tree, lighting up the hand-held torch in a group portrait, or making a chair rock.  Haunted by doubt, his representations fascinate the eye and the mind through the integration of duration and movement in what resembles fixed images.

In the early 1990s, the cinema theorist Raymond Bellour coined the expression "entre-images” or “between-images", using the term to approach these hybrid images between photography, film and video. The term today would apply perfectly to the work of Claerbout. In Algiers, sections of a happy moment (2008), time is suspended, yet the fragmentation of space – the multiplication of viewpoints and framing – is purified by a temporal dilation. Here, the viewer is ‘omniscient’, one is able to see an action from all angles in that precise moment. Another major layer to Claerbout’s photographic video works is sound. Claerbout himself often refers to his work as “audio pieces embedded in video.” Travel (1996-2013) is a work that was inspired by, and ultimately born from the soundtrack – a synthesised therapeutic music score composed by French composer Eric Breton, designed to reduce stress and induce sleep.

The Espace Louis Vuitton München is pleased to present these two emblematic works, which form part of the Collection. They exemplify Claerbout’s practice, where the ambiguity between photography and cinemaplays with the perception and the experience of time, resulting in unapologetically contemplative video installations.

 

About the artist

David Claerbout (b. 1969, Kortrijk, Belgium) lives and works in Anvers (Belgium) and Berlin (Germany). His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre, Dundee, Scotland; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; Galleri K, Oslo, Norway; and Centro de Arte Contemporanea de Galicia, Santiago di Compostela, Spain. His works have also been included in the exhibition Belgique Visionnaire, organized by Harald Szeeman at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium, and at venues such as Montevideo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria; SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium; Centre pour l'image contemporaine, Geneva, Switzerland; MuHKA Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium; and FRI ART Centre for Contemporary Art, Fribourg, Switzerland. David Clarebout lives and works between Berlin and Antwerp.

 

 

About the Fondation Louis Vuitton

The Fondation Louis Vuitton serves the public interest and is exclusively dedicated to contemporary art and artists, as well as 20th century works to which their inspirations can be traced. The Collection and the exhibitions it organizes seek to engage a broad public. The building created by architect Frank Gehry, and already recognized as an emblematic example of 21st century architecture, constitutes the Fondation’s seminal artistic statement. Since its opening in October 2014, the Fondation has welcomed more than a million visitors from France and around the world per year. Confirming the international recognition of its artistic commitment, the exhibition Icons of Modern Art, The Shchukin Collection received a record-breaking 1.2 million visitors in six months (Oct. 2016-Mar. 2017).

 

The Fondation Louis Vuitton commits to engage into international initiatives, both at the Fondation and in partnership with public and private institutions, including other foundations and museums. It is also responsible for the artistic direction of a specific “Hors-les-murs” program within the Espaces Louis Vuitton, cultural spaces in Munich, Beijing, Tokyo and Venice, which are exclusively devoted to exhibitions of works from the Collection. The exhibitions they organize are open to the public free of charge, and their programs are promoted through specific cultural communication.

 

Opening hours

Monday – Friday: noon–7 pm

Saturday: 10 am – 6 pm

Free admission

Contact presse

Espace Louis Vuitton München

Maximilianstrasse 2a

80539 München

T +49 89 55 89 38 100

info_espace@louisvuitton.com