31 Jan 2014

Argos, Centre for Art and Media presents Erik Bünger & Joëlle de la Casinière

Erik Bünger – 'Written on Tablets of Flesh'

The first solo exhibition in Belgium by the Swedish artist Erik Bünger (who lives in Berlin) is also the world premiere of his recent film trilogy. Together the three films are a compelling study of the use of the human voice in the mass media and (Hollywood) cinema, and how it can be used in a way that conflicts with the 'body' it belongs to (i.e. the actor, the speaker, the politician, etc.).
In an intelligent and often humorous way Bünger illustrates how the manipulation techniques used by the media can undermine our common sense of abstract concepts, such as identity, freedom, time, space, life and death.
The trilogy comprises the films 'A Lecture on Schizophonia' (2008), 'The Third Man' (2010) and the new film 'The Girl Who Never Wa's (2013); the complete trilogy is part of the Argos collection and is also distributed by Argos. The current screening takes place in an installation context that refers to cinema. An accompanying exhibition of objects that feature in the films, makes the issues the films refer to even more tangible.

On the occasion of his solo exhibition 'Written on Tablets of Fles'h at Argos, Erik Bünger presents the lecture-performance 'The Girl Who Never Was' in the Beursschouwburg on February 7 and 8.


Joëlle de la Casinière - '50 Tablotins musiqués'

The work of the Belgian video pioneer Joëlle de la Casinière has been part of the Argos collection for years. After earlier short-term collaborations (screenings and presentations at Argos and at other venues), Argos presents a solo exhibition with fifty 'tablotins' that are set to music. Whereas the artist often creates audio-visual works, this exhibition highlights an aspect of her oeuvre that is less familiar to the public: works on paper.
Since the 1970s, de la Casinière has regularly created small paintings-poems, in the secrecy of her workroom, which she calls tablotins. In the course of the years she has created hundreds of these visual poems in which she combines image and writing in a very personal style, using various drawing and collage techniques.
Now for the first time Argos presents a highly imaginative approach by the artist to these tablotins. The original works are hung on an immense white wall, framed behind glass; in the same room on a large screen the same works are projected, one after the other, tenfold, in an digital format. The images are accompanied by an original soundtrack composed by Jacques Lederlin, de la Casinière's long-standing artistic and musical partner.