03 Dec 2015

Sarah & Charles at Netwerk / center for contemporary art

In the internationally traveling solo exhibition, An Unbelievable Truth (previously seen at Nest Hague under the title: Moving a brick through water), Sarah & Charles show work from the past two years. A re-interpretation of images and visual language (in-and-of-itself) are central to the exhibition, arising from narrative, fiction and mise-en-scene in the different works discussed.
Where in their solo exhibition at Z33 (2013) they linked together the entire show through scenographic sets in order to lead the viewer into their fictional web, in Netwerk they succeed in compacting this same theme into self-standing works. Together they form an intriguing overall installation. Again, the duo's work raises more questions than it provides answers, however the spectator who indulges in the game of illusion that is being played, is not disappointed.
Bricks that are not bricks, a painting that is not a painting, sound descriptions that evoke images … The exhibition presents works ranging from sculptures to prints and cinematic work.
In their short film, A day will come my future will be your past, which is well represented in the exhibition, the artists duo explore the boundaries of storytelling and narrative structures, with great attention to subject and form. It is an on going back and forth swaying between creation and subversion of illusions. The film is about life and its memories, about expectations and disappointments. The contrast between execution and concept appears in a game between what is happening in front of and behind the scenes.
This 'breaking of the fourth wall' is a constant throughout the work of Sarah & Charles, always beautifully packaged by the accessible fairy tale content of their imagery.