bio
The works of Belgian artist David Claerbout are marked by an interrogation of time as an artistic medium. He has developed a kind of 'photography in movement', a 'still movement', into which he introduces narrative elements. He draws on the conventions of film, photography, and digital media, challenging boundaries by combining traditional technologies in the production of his works.
Navigating between the still and the moving image, between photographic and digital techniques, Claerbout produces works that are not easy to 'consume': looking at his work means spending enough time waiting for things to happen – an experience of duration which provides the viewer both the conditions and the desire to re-think what narration and story-telling can be in face of the image and its current technologies.
His artistic work deals with the transient nature of time and place on a specific moment and the incapability of any form of visual reproduction to completely capture 'reality' as it comes or exists. or to speak with the artist's own words: 'I don't know if recording reality and making your own reality is really any different. We thought of photography and cinema as the ambassadors of reality and what Andre Bazin says it's the "haute couture" of reality. But photography and film have long lost their status of being the ambassadors of reality, being credible witnesses of reality. We need to acknowledge that what you see is a construct. What I see as the element that is tapping into the certainty of being into a reality is duration, the time that you as a spectator spend in front of the work. Duration is a real analog element. I try to give to duration a quality of something very large, something which is much larger than yourself, something which keeps on going after you've gone. So for me duration is no longer linked to speed. The triangle of duration is that of pastness, present, and future. And I kind of try to capture those three elements on the same surface. I try to be aware in the video pieces of the pastness of the picture, the presentness of the picture, and what it will mean in time.'
Solo Exhibitions (selection)
2010
- Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (Germany)
- gl Holtegaard, Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich (Germany)
2009
- 'The Shape of Time', De Pont, Tilburg (The Netherlands)
- Hauser & Wirth, London (UK)
- Museo do Chiado, Lissboa (Portugal)
2008
- MIT LIST Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (MA) (USA)
- 'Then Came This', Yvon Lambert, New York (NY) (USA)
- Johnen Galerie, Berlin (Germany)
- 'After the Quiet', Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Sankt Gallen (Switzerland)
- EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (Greece)
- Belkin Galleries at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (Canada)
2007
- 'David Claerbout', travels to MIT LIST Visual Arts Center, Cambridge MA, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (France)
- 'David Claerbout. 3 Works', Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels (Belgium)
2005
- 'Background Time & Gezeiten', Akademie der Künste, Berlin (Germany)
- Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre, Dundee (UK)
- Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (The Netherlands)
- Le Magasin, Musée Dauphinois, Grenoble (France)
- 'Visible Time', Yvon Lambert, New York (NY) (USA)
2004
- Kunstbau im Lehnbachhaus, Munich (Germany)
- Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor (Canada)
- Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury (UK)
2003
- Hauser & Wirth, Zürich (Switzerland)
- Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp (Belgium)
- Galleri K, Oslo (Norway)
- Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich (Germany)
- Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
- Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
2002
- Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover (Germany)
- Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
- Galerie Johnen + Schöttle, Cologne (Germany)
2001
- Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich (Germany)
- Galerie Johnen + Schöttle, Cologne (Germany)
2000
- 'Present', Project for the Internet, www.diacenter.org/claerbout, Dia Art Foundation, New York (NY) (USA)
- Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp (Belgium)
- 'Untitled [Single channel projection]/Retrospection', Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York (NY) (USA)
1999
- Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent (Belgium)
1997
- Montevideo Gallery, Antwerp (Belgium)
- argos/ Kanal 20, Brussels (Belgium)
cv
Group exhibitions
2010
'Next Generation', Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen (Switzerland)
'Spaces of Childhood', Museo Civico ‚P.A. Garda', Ivrea / Torino (Italy)
'Belge Avant Tout', Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing (Franrkijk)
2009
'Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture', Mills College Art Museum, Oakland CA (USA)
'You'll never wake up from this beautiful dream', Artcollection, Ostend (Belgium)
'Sounds and Visions. Artist Video and Cinema Works from Europe', Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv (Israel)
'Moving Stills (Mois Européen de la Photographie)', MUDAM, Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
'Cronostasi. Tempo Filmico e Tempo Fotografico. Seconda parte 1985-2008', GAM Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Torino (Italy)
'Holbein bis Tillmans. Prominente Gäste aus dem Kunstmuseum Basel', Schaulager, Basel (Switzerland)
'Vérité exposée – about memory. Sven Augustijnen, David Claerbout, Ana Torfs, Els Vanden Meersch', Ernst Museum, Budapest (Hungary)
'A Story of The Image: Old and New Masters From Antwerp', Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai (travels to Singapore National Museum) (China)
'The Effect on Modern Art of Green Circles', Artcollection, Ostend (Belgium)
'Louis Vuitton et la Passion de la Création', Hong Kong Art Museum (Hong Kong)
'Some Wrinkles in Time', IVAM, Valencia (Spain)
'Gefrorene Momente', Kunstmuseum Chur, Chur (Switzerland)
'ReMap. Athens Biennale', AD Gallery, Athens (Greece)
'Fantastic Illusion', MOCA, Shanghai (China)
'Locus Solus', Yvon Lambert, Paris (France)
2008
'Car Culture', Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale (USA)
'The Subversion of Stillstand / Die Subversion des Stillstandes', Halle 14 / Universal cube, Leipzig (Germany) (travels to ACC Galerie, Weimar)
'Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture', The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum / Yale's Art + Architecture Gallery, Ridgefield / New Haven (USA)
'Doing it my way – Perspectives on Belgium Art', Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg (Germany)
'The Morning After. Videoworks from the Goetz Collection', Weserburg Museum für Moderne Kunst, Bremen (Germany)
'Sichtbarwerden',Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (Germany)
'Rêver l'horizon, autour de Paysage (1840) de Turner', Beffroi du Louvre, Lens à Bruay-la-Buissière (Pas-de-Calais) (France)
'Stutter and Twitch', Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto (Canada)
'PhotoEspana',Circullo de Bellas Artes, Madrid (Spain)
'Contemporary Representations of Night', Hunter College Art Galleries, New York (USA)
'nach/sichten', Edith Russ Site for Media Art, Oldenburg (Germany)
'Fondazione Morra Greco. Archeology of Mind', Malmö Art Museum, Malmö (Sweden) (travels to Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa Finland)
'Panoramic Views', Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya (Israel)
'Venedig. Von Canaletto und Turner bis Monet', Fondation Beyeler, Basel (Switzerland)
'ArtFocus 5th Edition', Le Pavillon, Jerusalem (Israel)
'Endless Sphere', Center for Contemporary Art, Kiev (Ukrain)
'Western Motel. Edward Hopper and Contemporary Art', Kunsthalle Wien, Wenen (Austria)
'41 Salon Nacional de Artistas. Image in Question', Cali/Columbia (USA)
'Questioning History. The Past in the Present', Netherlands Photomuseum, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
2007
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 'Fiction Vs Réalité', Lissabon (Portugal)
Kunstmuseum Bonn, 'GOING STAYING. Movement, Body, Place in Contemporary Art', Bonn (Germany)
'Beyond the country. Perspectives of the land in historic and contemporary art', Lewis Glucksman Gallery. University of Cork, Cork (Great-Britain)
Heidelberger Kunstverein, 'Reality Crossings', Heidelberg (Germany)
'Mois de la photo. Explorations narratives/Replaying Narrative', Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montreal (Canada)
'12e Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement – Culture hors-sol', Bac Bâtiment d'art contemporain, Genève (Switzerland)
'Flash Cube', Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (Korea)
'Intocable. El ideal de la transparencia', Patio Herreriano Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Valladolid (Spain)
'Perspektive 07', Lenbachhaus. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, München (Germany)
'En verhaal van het beeld. The Story of an Image', MuHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
'In the Eye of the Storm', Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen (Switzerland)
'Love Addiction: practices in video art from '67 to the present', Galleria Comunale d'Arte Contemporanea, Montefalcone (Italy)
'Stutter and Twitch', Bard College center for curatorial studies, Annandale-on-Hudson NY (USA)
'Anachronism', Argos, Brussels (Belgium)
'Portrait de l'autre. L'hospitalité. Le rejet', Musée d'Ixelles, Ixelles (Belgium)
'Imagination Becomes Reality. An Exhibition on the expanded concept of painting. Works from the Goetz Collection', ZKM Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe (Germany)
'The Leading Thread', CAB Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos, Burgos (Spain)
'Other than film', Filmfestival Rotterdam, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
2006
'Touch my Shadows. New media works from the Goetz Collection',Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, Warschau
'Something more than feeling', Rochester Art Center, Rochester MN (USA)
'Slow Motion', Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
'Idylle', Phoenix Werke, Hamburg (Germany) (travels to DA2 Domus Artium, Salamanca; Nationalgallery, Prague)
'On/ff', Frac Lorraine, Metz (France)
'Nr. 14 Light Play', Z33, Hasselt (Belgium)
'Beyond Cinema', Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (Germany)
'ClickDoubleClick – the documentary factor', Haus der Kunst, München (Germany) (travels to Paleis voor Schone Kunsten, BOZAR, Brussels)
'Message Personnel', Yvon Lambert, Paris (France)
'Intouchable', Villa Arson, Nice (France)
'The Sublime is Now! Das Erhabene in der Kunst von Barnett Newman bis heute',Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf (Zwitersland)
'Oeuvres vidéo de la collection Pierre Huber', Le Magasin, Grenoble (France)
'Brighton Photo Bienniale', Argus Building, Brighton (Great-Britain)
'Image In Motion', Dumont-Wyckhuyse, Roeselare (Belgium)
2005
'Lisboa Photo 2005', Centro Cultural de Belem, Lissabon (Portugal)
'Belgique Visionnaire', Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (Belgium)
'Slow Art – Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Flandern und den Niederlanden', Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf (Germany)
'Le Printemps de Septembre', Toulouse (France)
'Voisins Officiel', Musée d'art moderne, Lille (France)
'Shadow Play. Shadow and Light in Contemporary Art – An Homage to Hans Christian Andersen', Kunsthallen Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense (Denmark) (travels to Kunsthalle Kiel 2005; Landesgalerie Linz 2006)
'What's New, Pussycat?', Museum für Moderne Kunst MMK, Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
'Double Vision', Biennale Prague, Prague (Czech Republic)
'Miniature from eighteenth century until today', Fondazione Torino Musei, Turin (Italy)
'Private View 1998-2000. Collection Pierre Huber', Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne (Switzerland)
'Monopolis', Witte de With, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
'Fast nichts. Minimal artworks', Hamburger Bahnhof, Rieckhallen, Berlin (Germany)
'Manchmal weiss ich nicht, ob ich etwas wirklich erlebt oder ob ich es in einem Film gesehen habe. Von Olaf Breuning bis Sam Tayler-Wood. 33 Videoarbeiten aus der Sammlung Goetz in München', Seedamm Kulturzentrum, Pfäffikon (Switzerland)
2004
'Do You Believe in Reality?', Taipei Biennial, Taipei (Taiwan)
'Works I told you about', Yvon Lambert, Paris (France)
'94-04. Zehn Jahre Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst in Dresden', Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden (Germany)
'Channel Zero', Montevideo, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'Working Ethics. An Exhibition from a certain Flanders', Krinzinger Projekte, Wenen (Austria)
'Non-Sect Radical: Contemporary Photography III', Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama (Japan)
'Ralentir vite', Le Plateau, Paris (France)
Greene Naftali Gallery, New York (USA)
'DVD Lounge Incidents / De Nachten', deSingel, Antwerp (Belgium)
2003
'War (What is it Good for?)', Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (USA)
'Attack! Kunst und Krieg in den Zeiten der Medien', Kunsthalle Vienna, Wenen (Austria)
'Body Matters', Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo (Norway)
'under ground', Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden (Germany)
'Outlook', Athene (Greece)
'Gelijk het leven is. Belgische kunst uit de collectie van het SMAK'S.M.A.K., Ghent (Belgium)
'Fast forward: Media Art Sammlung Goetz', ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe (Germany)
'Guided by Heroes', Hasselt (Belgium)
'...lautloses irren, ways of worldmaking, too...', Postbahnhof am Ostbahnhof, Berlin (Germany)
'Still/Move', Caermersklooster, Ghent (Belgium)
'Contre/Temps. Thierry Kuntzel. David Claerbout', CRAC Centre de Recherche et d'Action Culturelle, Valence (France)
'Once upon a time...', MuHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
2002
'31st International Film Festival', Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
'Haunted by Detail', De Appel, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'Teaser',daadgalerie, Berlin (Germany)
'L'Herbier et le Nuage', Musée des arts contemporains MAC's Grand-Hornu, Hornu (Belgium)
Art & Public, Geneva (Switzerland)
Yvon Lambert, Paris (France)
'Group Exhibition', Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Das Museum, die Sammlung, der Direktor und seine Liebschaften', Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (Germany)
'Malerei ohne Malerei', Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig (Germany)
2001
'Unreal Time Video', Korean Art Foundation, Seoul (Korea)
'Winter Exhibition: Tiong Ang, Serhiy Bratkov, David Claerbout, José Antonio Hernandez-Diez', INOVA Institute of Visual Arts, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee WI (USA)
'Aubette', Museum D'Hondt-Daenens, Deurle (Belgium)
'La vérité est ailleurs', Centre pour l'image contemporaine, Geneva (Switzerland)
'Berlin Biennale 2', Berlin (Germany)
'Videoserie in der Black Box, 6 Künstler – 6 Positionen', Sammlung Goetz, München (Germany)
'Touch me...', Cultural Centers Strombeek, Sint-Niklaas, Roeselare (Belgium)
'Passion', Galerie Ascan Crone, Part I in Hamburg, Part II in Berlin (Germany)
2000
Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick (Ireland)
Huis aan de Werf, cur. Moritz Kung, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
Le Grand Hornu, Mons (Belgium)
La Monnaie, 'L'Opera, un chant d'Étoiles', Brussels (Belgium)
'18th World Wide Video Festival', Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
1999
Fotohof, Salzburg (Austria)
[Exhibition with works from the Collection of the Flemish Community], Hallen, Brugge (Belgium)
'Trouble Spot Painting', MuHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Nuevos Caminos', Vigo, Galicia (Spain)
'Transference. Locations in Memory and Time', FRI ART, Centre for Contemporary Art, Fribourg (Switzerland)
'Dis.Location', hARTware, Dortmund (Germany)
'Reflexive Figuration', Galerie Ferdinant Van Dieten, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
1998
'Not strictly private', Shed im Eisenwerk, Frauenfeld (Switzerland)
'Intimate Strangers', Gallery by Night, Budapest (Hungary)
'I never promised you a rose garden', Beelden Buiten, Tielt (Belgium)
1997
Watertoren CHK, Vlissingen (The Netherlands)
Pica en Flandes, Barcelona (Spain)
'Prix de la jeune peinture belge', Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (Belgium)
1996
'Tekeningen en projecten', Montevideo Gallery, Antwerp (Belgium)
biblio
Berg Stephan, Kushner Rachel, 'David Claerbout', CGAC Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, 2003.
Flor, Harald, 'Ingen plass i sola', in: Dagbladet, Oslo, October 12, 2003, p. 54.
Gaensheimer, Susanne (ed.), , Lenbachhaus, Munich, DAAD Galerie, Berlin, 2004
Garrett, Craig, 'Raf Simons', in: Flash Art, Milan, nr 235, March-April 2004, pp. 65-67
Green, David and Lowry, Johanna, in: 'David Claerbout', Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre, Dundee, Walther König Verlag, Cologne, 2004
Green, David, 'David Claerbout', in: Photoworks, Brighton, May-October 2004
Kittelmann, Udo, 'David Claerbout', in: Cream III, London, 2003, pp. 104-108
Koplos, Janet, 'David Claerbout at the Museum Boijmans', in: Art in America, New York, nr 2, Feb 2004, p. 133
'Non-Sect Radical: Contemporary Photography III', Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, 2004
'Handlungsanweisungen. What is Art good for? 100x Kunst am Karlsplatz', Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, 2004
Urbaschek, Stephan, Verreet, Isabel, 'David Claerbout', in: Fast Forward: Media Works from the Goetz Collection, ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, 2003
Van den Abeele, Lieven, 'Een villa in de hoofdrol', in: De Standaard, 10 September 2004, pp. 26-27
Weski, Thomas/Haus der Kunst (ed.), 'click doubleclick. The Documentary Factor', Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung, Walther König, 2006, pp. 192-195
2002
- DAAD, Berlin (Germany)
1996
- Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
works
American Car
Kindergarten Antonio Sant'Elia, 1932
'Kindergarten Antonio Sant'Elia, 1932' is the last work of five in which the element of wind in the leaves is played out against a still. A photograph dating from 1932, at the opening of the new kindergarten Antonio Sant'Elia in Como. We see children that play in the functionalist garden (architect Giuseppe Terragni), and two young trees. The light is cold and it seems like the sun is low, creating long shadows and a chilly impression. The image with the children remains in between a spontaneous moment and a composed picture. The movement of the young trees causes the image to freeze as well as it continues to melt into motion, never choosing to go just in one direction.
David Claerbout
F: +32 (0)3/289.46.19
E: david@claerboutstudio.be
W: www.hauserwirth.com
W: www.yvon-lambert.com
2018 Antwerpen, België
Limmatstrasse 270
8005 Zürich, Zwitserland
108 rue Vieille-du-Temple
75003 Parijs, Frankrijk
Verlatstraat 14
2000 Antwerpen, België
