2col section…

David Claerbout, “Sections of a Happy Moment,” 2007, Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp, Belgium; Yvon Lambert, Paris/New York; Hauser & Wirth, Zurich/London; Johnen + Schöttle, Cologne/Berlin/Munich.

MUST RUN 2/29

DAVID CLAERBOUT’S FIRST MUSEUM SURVEY ON VIEW AT MIT’S VISUAL ARTS CENTER w/1 cut

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CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — On view through April 6, the MIT List Visual Arts Center presents the first museum survey exhibition featuring the works of Belgian artist David Claerbout.

Since 1996, Claerbout (b Kortrijk, Belgium, 1969) has created works that navigate between the still and the moving image and between photographic and digital techniques. He has developed a type of photography in motion, a “moving still,” into which, since 2004, he has introduced narrative elements. Filmed in architectural settings representative of modern culture and the contemporary urban context, Claerbout’s works often explore the passage of time and the unfolding of space.

“Kindergarten Antonio Sant’Elia, 1932,” 1998, a moving and still image, is based on a 1932 photograph of the opening of architect Giuseppe Terragni’s kindergarten Antonio Sant’Elia in Como.

“Four Persons Standing,” 1999, features a projected image of people standing outside a modernist building. Upon closer inspection, one notices that the women and men are in styles of dress from different eras, contradicting the notion of photography’s ability to capture a single moment in time.

“Vietnam, 1967, near Duc Pho (reconstruction after Hiromishi Mine),” 2001, depicts a plane shot down by friendly fire during the Vietnam War. This comes from a famous black and white photograph taken by reporter Hiromishi Mine. Claerbout filmed the landscape 33 years later, and combined the two into a subtle moving and still image.

“David Claerbout” was designed and organized by the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France. The exhibition will next travel to the Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland, and to the De Pont Foundation, Tilburg, The Netherlands; and the Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published in two separate editions: one French and one English by JRP/Ringier.

The MIT List Visual Arts Center is in the Wiesner Building, 20 Ames Street, at the eastern edge of the MIT campus. For information, http://web.mit.edu/lvac or 617-253-4680.