-Douglas Gordon
Gordon is a conjurer of collective memory and perceptual surprise whose tools include the everyday commodities of pop culture: Hollywood films, found scientific footage, photographs of rock stars, or poetic and ambiguous phrases. Into a diverse body of work - which spans video and film, sound, photographic objects, and texts both as facility and printed matter - he infuses a combination of humour and trepidation to manipulate reactions to the familiar. An early example, 24 Hour Psycho (1993), slowed down Alfred Hitchcockâ#8364;#8482;s legendary 1960 film into a good dayâ#8364;#8482;s duration, drawing out the horror until any sense of suspense ceased to exist. In 2006, he collaborated with Philippe Parreno on the feature film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which used multiple cameras to succeed every cause of the international soccer star.
Gordonâ#8364;#8482;s new film k.364 involves two Israeli musicians of Polish descent (Avri Levitan and Roi Shiloah) traveling to Poland from Berlin by train. Shown on multiple screens and with layered sound, the movie follows the two men through a barren landscape in a land whose tragic and violent history is barely resolved for them. Gordon films the musicians on this personal journey, isolating intimate moments at which their passionate love of music seems to travel between them.
Leaving Berlin, they go through Poznan, home of the celebrated Amadeus chamber orchestra, where the old synagogue is yet used as a swimming pool. The journey concludes with the musiciansâ#8364;#8482; performance, at the Warsaw Philharmonic concert hall, of Mozartâ#8364;#8482;s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major (also known as Mozartâ#8364;#8482;s â#8364;#339;Kochel Composition k.364â#8364;, from which the style of Gordonâ#8364;#8482;s film is derived. The picture is an internal document of the kinship between individuals and the ability of music, against the subtly drawn backdrop of a black and open social history.
A serial of wooden flat files topped with glass vitrines will likewise be on view. Gordon has filled the mirrored displays with ephemera such as playing cards, books and photographs. Part sketchbook, part time capsule, the cabinets present a glance of his experiences and diverse web of sources.
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Douglas Gordon was the receiver of the 1996 Turner Prize, the 1997 Venice Biennial`s Premio 2000 award, the 1998 Hugo Boss Prize awarded by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the 2008 Roswitha Haftmann Prize. His influence has been the case of numerous museum exhibitions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2001); the FundaciÃ#179; Joan MirÃ#179;, Barcelona (2006); â#8364;#339;Timeline,#226;#8364; The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2006), traveled to MALBA ColecciÃ#179;n Costantini, Buenos Aires (2007); â#8364;#339;Pretty much every book written, spoken, heard, overheard from 1989â#8364;#166;,#226;#8364; the MART, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy (2006); â#8364;#339;Superhumanatural,#226;#8364; the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (2006); â#8364;#339;Between Dark and Light: Works 1989 â#8364;#8220; 2007,#226;#8364; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2007); â#8364;#339;Blood, Sweat, Tears,#226;#8364; DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague (2009) and Tate Britain, London (2010). The feature-length film, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which he co-directed with artist Philippe Parreno, premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival before screenings at numerous international venues. k.364 premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2010.