Pinakothek
der Moderne
Barer Straße 40
München
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Johan Grimonprez,
Looking for Alfred,
Retrospective
1992-2007
May 10-
August 19, 2007
The Belgian media artist Johan Grimonprez (born 1962) achieved international acclaim with his video collage Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, which had its premiere at the Documenta X in Kassel in 1997. In a breathtaking recycling of pictures from news broadcasts, Hollywood movies, animated films and commercials the approximately one-hour-long film tells the story of the airplane hijackings in the 1970’s. Reality and fiction are blended together to relate new stories. This way, Grimonprez — child of the first TV generation — presents history in a completely new way: from a multitude of perspectives, fragmentally and manipulatively.
As with Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, Grimonprez’ latest and by no means completed project Looking for Alfred plays with simulations and optical illusions. Point of departure is the figure of film director Alfred Hitchcock and his legendary guest appearances in his own films. Innumerable Hitchcock doppelgangers act out a mysterious game of confusion in which it rains umbrellas and swarms of birds evoke a sinister atmosphere. The imaginable claims to be true, the real seems improbable. This homage to Hitchcock, the “Master of Suspense”, also pays tribute to the imagery of the Surrealist painter René Magritte — and, in doing so, to one of the central themes of the Sammlung Moderne Kunst (Modern Art Collection) at the Pinakothek der Moderne.
»Looking for Alfred« consists of film installations in two parts as well as hundreds of hand drawings, collages and photographs. The acquisition of this complex of works for the Pinakothek der Moderne has been made possible with the support of the foundation Theo Wormland Stiftung. The first presentation of these works in a museum gives an overview of Grimonprez’ remarkable artistic development during the past 15 years. |
Johan Grimonprez, Looking for Alfred, film still, 2004, courtesy of Zapomatik / Film & Video Umbrella.
Johan Grimonprez, Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, 1997, Photograph Johan Grimonprez and Rony Vissers, © 1997-2003 Johan Grimonprez.
Johan Grimonprez, Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, 1997, Photograph Johan Grimonprez and Rony Vissers, |
