David Claerbout

“The Close” is the title of David Claerbout’s new video work, which will be shown at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle starting March 17. The Close – a residential street with no through traffic – combines a reconstruction of amateur footage from around 1920 and a digital 3D rendering of that footage. The 1920s was the time of the so-called city symphonies, which marked the beginning of the entry of film cameras into everyday life. Intended as a short, emotional history of the camera, “The Close” reflects on what Claerbout refers to as “dark optics”: a profound if chaotic recalibration happening in our time of the beliefs we share with regard to images, information and language.

David Claerbout
The Close, 2022
(Still) b/w single-channel video projection
with 6-channel surround sound
Edition of 7
© David Claerbout