Documentary Fictions at CaixaForum
CaixaForum – “la Caixa” Foundation
CaixaForum presents a continuous showing of films and videos by 21 international artists, in addition to installations and multiprojections
Documentary ‘Fictions’
Four stories of four women who wear wigs. One of them is accused of terrorism, and has lived in disguise for 30 years. Another has lost her hair to chemotherapy. The third is a practicing Muslim who wears a wig instead of a kerchief. The fourth is a transsexual prostitute. For all four women, the wig forms a backdrop for an identity, while creating another. These four stories give life to Women Who Wear Wigs, a video installation of four projections created by the Turkish artist Kutlug Ataman in 1999. Under the title Documentary ‘Fictions’, CaixaForum presents in continuous showing a number of installations and multiprojections that show 22 films and videos by 21 international artists. The contact between art and documentary cinema has borne its fruits in recent years. The vehemence with which they have both questioned ideas such as reality, authenticity or evidence has engendered a critical outlook on the regime of universal truth that has surrounded documentary practice up to now. Documentary ‘Fictions’ launches a foray into that ambiguous territory that is the setting for experiences from a reality that is no longer unique nor transparent. The creators present are Sobhi Al-Zobaidi, Keren Amiran, Kutlug Ataman, Javier Codesal, Jordi Colomer, Tacita Dean, Harun Farocki, Peter Friedl, Valerie Jouve, Victor Kossakovsky, Florence Lazar, Avi Mograbi, Noelle Pujol, Walid Raad, Santiago Reyes, Jean-Claude Rousseau, Allan Sekula, Zineb Sedira, Alexandra Sell, Jia Zhang Ke and Jun Yang.
The Documentary ‘Fictions’, exhibit curated by Jean Pierre Rehm, director of the Festival International du Documentaire (FID) de Marsella, and Marta Gili, chief of Photography and Visual Arts of “la Caixa” Foundation, can be viewed at CaixaForum (av. del Marques de Comillas, 6-8), from 10 March to 27 June, 2004.
The 21 filmmakers and artists represented in Documentary ‘Fictions’ explore the contradictions inherent to documentary practice to bring to light invisible, unknown or simply omitted fragments of reality. Using strategies that range from traditional storytelling to installations, diaporama and Internet, the show presents works that do not aim to consolidate truths as much as they seek to unveil the complex processes (especially from a political and social standpoint) through which the relationships between information and visual experience are forged.
The exhibition, to be held in Hall 1 of CaixaForum, is structured into two areas to facilitate projection of the 22 videos and films shown:
1. First, visitors can follow a route through the hall, where the works requiring exhibition space (installations, multiprojections) are presented. This is the case of creators Kutlug Ataman, Jordi Colomer, Tacita Dean, Harun Farocki, Peter Friedl, Florence Lazar, Walid Raad, Santiago Reyes and Zineb Sedira.
2. Alternatively, a projection room has been set up to house the continuous showing of 12 films, distributed in four programs. The artists and filmmakers represented in this second ambit are Sobhi Al-Zobaidi, Keren Amiran, Javier Codesal, Valerie Jouve, Victor Kossakovsky, Avi Mograbi, Noelle Pujol, Jean-Claude Rousseau, Allan Sekula, Alexandra Sell, Jung Yang and Jia Zhang Ke. To make things more comfortable for spectators, an individual viewing area has been designed for “a la carte” projections of all the films shown in this second area.
In some exhibits, viewers move about among the works and decide how much time to assign to the observation of each one. Nonetheless, in this case, just as in cinema, the works play out before the viewer, determining the time necessary for them to be shown.
Photo: tlug Ataman. Women Who Wear Wigs, 1999. 4 videos, approximately one hour each, color, Turkey, Turkish, (O.V.S.S.). Video installation of four projections. Produced by the artist and the Lehmann Maupin Gallery. Exhibition Documentary ‘Fictions‘. CaixaForum – “la Caixa” Foundation
CaixaForum
Av. Marquès de Comillas, 6-8
08038 Barcelona
Tel.: 902 22 30 40
