SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2007
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l'homme et son ombre , English title : The Man and his Shadow
l'homme et son ombre is a videowork resulting from a collaboration between
the Belgian video artists Kristin Rogghe and Matthias De Groof, and
the Congolese painter Francis Mampuya. The work is part of the project
'ôtre k' ôtre', a series of videoworks initiated during
an artist residency at the Académies des Beaux-Arts, Kinshasa,
October-November 2006.
The video shows the genesis – and destruction – of one of
Mampuya's artworks, in a way that refers to Clouzot's film on Picasso's
artistic process. The camera captures the unique moment of creation,
where lines are born and shapes appear out of nothing. This work does
not show a painting like we are used to see it, as a silent visual object.
It rather evokes the audiovisual experience of the painting's dynamic
strive to come into existence, with the soundtrack that emerges naturally
from this physical and material struggle. The artist himself is only
present as a dark profile, a black shadow casted on his painting. In
this respect the work bears references to the typical way of depicting
black people. It also evokes associations with the usual (but problematic)
idea of the black continent as being 'the heart of darkness', still
needing to be 'enlighted'. Or else: a 'terra nulla', a white sheet of
paper where everything is yet to begin.
androa (autoportrait), English title:
Androa (Self-portrait)
androa (autoportrait) is an audiovisual experiment with the genre of
the self-portrait. The viewer stands face to face with the life size
portrait of Androa, who films himself while running around in the domain
of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa.A self-portrait in
motion. A pradoxical self-portrait, conceived by others and registered
almost automatically by the handycam in Androa's hand. Androa partly
controls the image, checking it on the display of the camera while it
is registered, but he also looses himself in it. This portrait never
fixes his image; it is a continuous production of ever changing close-ups
with ever changing backgrounds. In these close-ups the viewer can read
exhaustion and perseverance, duration and endurance, suffering and jouissance.
Who is this 'coming man'? – the viewer might ask himself. Obviously,
it is someone who 'goes for it' – but for what? Where is he going
to? He seems to be running towards us; but at the same time he always
keeps about the same distance to the camera/the viewer. While Androa
is getting out of breath, the relations self/self and self/other are
at stake.
Landu Bar
l'atelier du peintre, English title : The Painter's Studio
les Tervurens invisibles, English title:
The Invisible Tervurens