Michael Borremans
dal 9/4/2009 al 20/6/2009
Segnalato da
9/4/2009
Michael Borremans
Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover
Automat. Originally trained as a photographer and graphic designer, the Belgian painter the artist has become internationally known through his painting and drawing. Lately, Borremans has intensified his pursuit of the medium of film. Frequently utilizing old master techniques, he produces painting and drawing work depicting situations of human alienation and separation triggered by visible or imagined representatives of power. His work reads as possible commentary on contemporary phenomena which, despite a constant insistence on ubiquitous transparency within power relations, come closer to being indistinguishable from what came before.
Originally trained as a photographer and graphic designer, the Belgian painter Michaël Borremans
(1963) has become internationally known through his painting and drawing. Lately, Borremans has
intensified his pursuit of the medium of film. Within the scope of his solo exhibition at the
kestnergesellschaft, new paintings and selected drawings will be presented alongside a large series of
his film work.
Michaël Borremans’ work pulsates over a wide expanse through the art historical echo chamber
through the present. Frequently utilizing old master techniques, he produces painting and drawing
work depicting situations of human alienation and separation triggered by visible or imagined
representatives of power. With this vocabulary, he presents the individual or a group, who appear to
be immersed and isolated in definite actions, rituals or situations. In the films, careful examination
changes the scenes into absurd poses. Borremans’ work reads as possible commentary on
contemporary phenomena or entities which, despite a constant insistence on ubiquitous transparency
within power relations, come closer to being indistinguishable from what came before.
Borremans’ drawings are the formal basis for his films which refer to staged or performative moments
in the form of tableaux vivants. Through slowly panning camera movement, a concentrated and
intense atmosphere is created. With a slow zoom, the artist attracts the viewer’s attention to scenes
of faces, bodies and clothing. Like his paintings and drawings, Borremans’ films balance between an
everyday reality of ordinariness and an abysmal parallel world. In the kestnergesellschaft, his film
works from the last three years will be shown as 35mm and 16mm projections on flat screens.
Other solo exhibitions have been at the Centro de Artes Visuais, Coimbra (2007), De Appel,
Amsterdam (2007), the Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel (2004) and Kunsthalle Bremerhaven
(2004), which presented Borremans’ works in the 4. berlin biennale for contemporary art (2006),
where his film work was screened for the first time.
Exhibition catalogue (German/English), published at Hatje Cantz
with texts by Martin Germann, Veit Görner and Hans Rudolf Reust
Image: The Storm, 2006. 35 mm film: 1`07 min.; continuous loop, color, silent (c) Michaël Borremans. Courtesy David Zwirner and Zeno X Gallery Antwerp
Press Contact
Judith Reitter, fon +49 511 7012016, fax +49 511 7012020 presse@kestner.org
Opening thursday, april 10, 2009, 7 pm
Kestnergesellschaft
Goseriede 11 - Hannover
opening hours:
daily 11 am to 6 pm
thursdays 11 am to 8pm
closed on mondays
holidays 11 am to 6 pm