Last week saw David Claerbout’s debut solo exhibition in a London public gallery. ‘The time that remains’ features his works from over the last decade, 2000 till present.
Hosted by the Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, David Claerbout has used the gallery space to set the mood, allowing the viewer to immerse himself in his world. It is a sensory experience.
The photographic lightbox ‘Orchestra’ sets the tone. Walking in from daylight, it takes the viewers’ retina a few moments to adapt to the dark surroundings. They then realise the conductor and an entire audience are focusing their gaze on them. The piece examines theatrical silence.
David Claerbout: Bordeaux Piece, 2004 © David Claerbout
Intrigued, and feeling disconnected from the outside world, ‘Bordeau Piece’ comes next. A work in which Claerbout uses dialogue for the first time. The same scenes are shot at 10-minute intervals, but as time goes by, the narrative slowly collapses, giving way to the movement of the sun on a landscape, architecture and people.
Moving on, ‘The Algiers’ Sections of a Happy Moment’. Set in a small football field on a roof, a group of young people stop their game as a player starts to feed seagulls. The images look to capture a moment of simple pleasure.
David Claerbout: The Algiers' Sections of a Happy Moment, 2008 © David Claerbout
Room by room and work by work, David Claerbout challenges the conventional idea of time and the narrative process. He says his work is between the worlds of digital photography and film, investigating this space in concise and stimulating installations.
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