calendario eventi  :: 

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2/3/2007

Two exhibitions

Witte de With, Rotterdam

Chloe Piene and Jesper Just

Continuing our focus on in-depth presentations of individual artists’ work, Witte de With is proud to announce two solo exhibitions: Chloe Piene and Jesper Just. Opening simultaneously, they present very different approaches to film by two artists of the same generation, both at an exciting stage in a burgeoning international career. Jesper Just’s flms are extremely multi-faceted, so complex that the more one tries to analyze them, the more obscure they become. The harder we try to read the behavior of Just’s protagonists and the relationships between them, the deeper we stumble into the psychological traps generously positioned by the artist. We are caught off guard, swamped by our own raw, emotional reactions.

Just’s films can be regarded as incessantly shifting parts in a larger socio-political enquiry into the nature of human interaction and relationships: their pitfalls, failures and perversions, but also their dignity and beauty. The exhibition – curated by Sophie von Olfers and Nicolaus Schafhausen – will feature several of his recent films and a new work commissioned for this project by Witte de With, the Ursula Blickle Foundation and S.M.A.K. (supported by the Danish Arts Council). The exhibition will run simultaneously at Witte de With and the Ursula Blickle Foundation, with a selection of Just’s films screened in the ursula blickle videolounge at the Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna during April. Just’s works will be on show at S.M.A.K in from April to June, who together with WdW Publishers and the Ursula Blickle Foundation are co-publishing the first major book on Just’s work to date.

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Chloe Piene is known for her intense drawings and powerful videos. Since the late 1990s, she has been making charcoal drawings of naked figures, based on images of herself, others and, occasionally, animals. In her videos, Piene twists cinematic tools and conventions. Through the use of simple techniques like the slowing down of sound and image, she forces her viewers to engage at a more subversive level.

Extreme emotions such as isolation and fear are enhanced by strong chiaroscuro images, intense soundtracks and solitary performances. Piene’s work succeeds in a subtle engagement in the plight of victim and hero, viewer and protagonist.

The exhibition – curated by Renske Janssen and Nicolaus Schafhausen – includes a selection of Piene’s recent drawings and videos. It is accompanied by a publication exploring the role of sound in her films, the performative nature of her drawing, and the interplay of fear and fantasy in her practice.

Event

5 April, 8 pm
Book launch - artist’s talk: Fear and Fearlessness.
Chloe Piene in conversation with Renske Janssen, featuring clips from horror films that have influenced Piene’s work.
Free entry. Language: English.

Witte de With
Witte de Withstraat 50 - Rotterdam

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